Suspect I have a chicken eating eggs

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mctoad

mctoad

Hatching
10 Years
Sep 22, 2009
2
0
7
I have 17 hen, 6 are just a year old and 11 are two years old. I get about 8 eggs a day. But some days I only three. Today I found egg shell in one of the nest boxes. I suspect I have a egg eating chicken. Need so advice. Please help. Thanks
 
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Some things to work on--try to collect eggs often, and keep a close eye on who is doing what, and who is checking out the nestbox all the time. Add some high protein treats such as low-salt fish, small amounts cat food, washed cottage cheese, meal worms, sunflower seeds. Make sure they have oyster shell available at all times so shells are good and hard (even if they are on a layer feed). keep lots of straw in the nests so they are soft. Put a few egg-shaped rocks in the nest to throw them off (I am not a big fan of the mustard or soap egg idea). Try putting a dark cloth over the nest box so they can't see in.
 
I had the same problem!I have 4 Barred Rocks and 7 Harco Black Sex links and I "think" one of the Harco girls was eating an egg everyday!!So.. I have 4 nest boxes, 2 of which the girls favor the most . I put a fake egg in 2 of the boxes and it seems to have stopped.(now that I've told you that it's sure to start again!)Yikes.Other than that I haven't tried the fill the egg with mustard trick.Maybe that's what I'll do next if this doesn't work.
 
Previous suggestions are good. I think persistence is also key. I broke mine by using the fake eggs and rearranging the coop to shake things up. Good luck

Imp
 
Thanks for the advice. I will try those suggestions, and let you know how it works.
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I'm afraid I have one RIR that is now eating eggs. I've known for some time I had one chicken that was eating eggs, but I caught her over the weekend. She ran over to another egg, and aggressivley broke it, and started eating the yolk. Didn't really eat the shell, but was attacking the yolk.

They have tons of oyster shell, bread, I give them some vegatbles here and there, so hard pressed to figure out how to break her of it. She's one of my best hens too. Any advice?
 
The darker the nest the better. Some people hang a curtain in front of the nests. Also some people fill blown out eggs with mustard, horseradish or liquid soap. And lots of fake eggs. I used golf balls, pingpong balls, stone eggs etc. Try the high protein items and maybe eliminate the bread and veggies and try that for a while. Maybe she's craving protein. Can you seperate her and maybe shake her up a bit? Good luck

Imp
 
My egg eaters are getting better - but I think it is because the weather is nice and all the snow melted. They are so excited to be outside they forget to go in and eat eggs. I just put wood eggs out there today to see if that will help also. They have oyster shell but don't seem very interested in it.

Good luck breaking the habit - my particular egg eaters are valuable to me and I can't bear to cull them at this point.
 
I've also had that problem in the past. When it started it was usually my fault (buying cheap food). But once it starts it is difficult to stop. Seems they get a taste for it. I've never heard of filling egg with mustard. Back when I had the problem I discovered it was from two hens. I removed them and allowed them to free-range for several months (also provided free-choice pellets). After that I collected them and never had the problem again (after accidentally finding their laying spot with a dozen or so eggs). Point is, my remedy is to remove those responsible. "Quarantining" her/them into a separate cage would be most ideal.
 

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