Birds eating eggs-HELP!!!!

[aghiowa]

I have way fewer eggs than normal. I thought maybe mine were eating eggs too, and tried a dijon & pepper egg. Went back in later and it was ALL gone - no trace left. Do egg eaters usually leave signs, or do I have an egg predator?

Angela

 

[FarmingForFun]

They will usually eat the entire thing! I would recommend trying the dijon egg a few more times until it either works or you have to remove the culprit and figure out what to do with them. Catching the culprit could be tough, but egg eating is not a fun problem!

 

[coldupnorth]

Many times the egg eating chicken will leave nothing behind to show that they've eaten one. Once an egg is broken into it creates a feeding frenzy with any hens around it. They will eat everything. You either have to catch them in the act or you might find one with yolk on its beak. I've had this problem and tried golf balls, mustard or hot pepper eggs and had no luck breaking them of it. I did find that sometimes the culprit is a hen that is not allowed to the feeders by the other hens/roosters (bottom of pecking order) and she hangs out around the nest boxes because this is the only way to get food/water. Having more than one place for feeding/drinking may help. We ended up having to go to a roll-away nest box. I just modified my existing nest box floors with a little creativity and now the hens can't get to the eggs. That was the only thing that worked for us. Good luck and hope you figure out a way to stop the loss of eggs.