Cannibalistic Australorp hens

[Siyabonga Mama]

I had the same problem with my EE what i did was grab a egg shell get the insides out and fill it ( with a syringe) with mustard and put the egg where you have found the eaten eggs. After i did that my EE hasn't eaten an egg.
View attachment 1733054 Here was my egg eater.

I love this idea! I have 12 hens (one older buff orpington and 11 2-3yo gold comets, aka gold sex links) and a beautiful black australorp roo. I have no idea who is eating the eggs but suspect more than one, because I didn't get onto it right away - assumed it was crows - and I know they learn from each other.

I've been through a whole lot of stuff lately with my chickens and the thought of killing them just about kills me! We've had persistent mites, and chickens that just look skinny and bedraggled and some just dying. I've been feeling desperate! Over the past few weeks I've set up a whole new run on uncontaminated ground (their old run is in a corner of the veggie garden). They have the run of a grassy backyard area all day and at night are in a run with a coop ... They're still deciding whether to accept this and are laying their eggs here and there. I feed layer pellets - either Purina or another brand, I forget what it's called, but it's a decent brand. The grass they have access to isn't a pristine lawn - it's a mix of clover and wild grasses as well as lawn grass.

I've also treated them twice with ivermectin (drops on the back of the lower neck) and once with fenbendazole (they'll be dosed again in about a week).

I've read that the comets don't last long and are prone to reproductive issues, and that's certainly been my experience; I've had several just drop dead for no clear reason, and a few died or were euthanized after not recovering, usually after I saw pale yellow stuff dripping from their vents. Broken egg or infection? I couldn't tell. Only yesterday I had a hen who had been suffering from diarrhea (I thought) and been a bit droopy and tending to keep to herself, but eating and not obviously in pain, walking normally, etc ... I'd washed her mucky butt and dosed her with Nutri-Drench. Then yesterday I noticed a black patch under her wing, and when I looked closer it was stinking and mucky and she was CRAWLING with maggots!!! I have no idea where they came from but it looked as though they'd eaten their way out of her. It was HORRIBLE, and of course we euthanized her right away. But it's barely warm here in Eastern Washington, seems too early for flystrike - in fact it was still dropping close to freezing at night when she started looking poorly.

Anyway, after all this I just can't stand the thought of killing all of them. Can't eat them for 10 days anyway because of the ivermectin. So I'm going to start filling their eggs with mustard and see if I can break the habit. If anyone else has any ideas - not just re egg-eating, but anything I should be doing to be a better chicken mama - I'd be grateful.

 

[Roo5]

It’s not really cannibalism,they just like their own eggs as much as you do!

 

[ZoomuKeeper]

I love this idea! I have 12 hens (one older buff orpington and 11 2-3yo gold comets, aka gold sex links) and a beautiful black australorp roo. I have no idea who is eating the eggs but suspect more than one, because I didn't get onto it right away - assumed it was crows - and I know they learn from each other.

I've been through a whole lot of stuff lately with my chickens and the thought of killing them just about kills me! We've had persistent mites, and chickens that just look skinny and bedraggled and some just dying. I've been feeling desperate! Over the past few weeks I've set up a whole new run on uncontaminated ground (their old run is in a corner of the veggie garden). They have the run of a grassy backyard area all day and at night are in a run with a coop ... They're still deciding whether to accept this and are laying their eggs here and there. I feed layer pellets - either Purina or another brand, I forget what it's called, but it's a decent brand. The grass they have access to isn't a pristine lawn - it's a mix of clover and wild grasses as well as lawn grass.

I've also treated them twice with ivermectin (drops on the back of the lower neck) and once with fenbendazole (they'll be dosed again in about a week).

I've read that the comets don't last long and are prone to reproductive issues, and that's certainly been my experience; I've had several just drop dead for no clear reason, and a few died or were euthanized after not recovering, usually after I saw pale yellow stuff dripping from their vents. Broken egg or infection? I couldn't tell. Only yesterday I had a hen who had been suffering from diarrhea (I thought) and been a bit droopy and tending to keep to herself, but eating and not obviously in pain, walking normally, etc ... I'd washed her mucky butt and dosed her with Nutri-Drench. Then yesterday I noticed a black patch under her wing, and when I looked closer it was stinking and mucky and she was CRAWLING with maggots!!! I have no idea where they came from but it looked as though they'd eaten their way out of her. It was HORRIBLE, and of course we euthanized her right away. But it's barely warm here in Eastern Washington, seems too early for flystrike - in fact it was still dropping close to freezing at night when she started looking poorly.

Anyway, after all this I just can't stand the thought of killing all of them. Can't eat them for 10 days anyway because of the ivermectin. So I'm going to start filling their eggs with mustard and see if I can break the habit. If anyone else has any ideas - not just re egg-eating, but anything I should be doing to be a better chicken mama - I'd be grateful.

 

[ZoomuKeeper]

Mine lost their taste for eggs. they are back to normal

 

[Maugwa]

I had the same problem with my EE what i did was grab a egg shell get the insides out and fill it ( with a syringe) with mustard and put the egg where you have found the eaten eggs. After i did that my EE hasn't eaten an egg.
View attachment 1733054 Here was my egg eater.

When I was a kid my mom brought home a Basset Hound that would never harm a chicken, but would steal any egg she could get to. She got caught and scolded many times, but loved eggs too much to get over it. Sometimes she just had this guilty strange expression and we knew that if we made here come right then, we could muscle her mouth open and find maybe up to four unbroken eggs she was on her way to stash for a snack later. All the hens got to free range and we didn't want them locked up. My mom came up with the idea of blowing out some eggs and filling some with tabasco, some with mustard, and dabbing the holes with plaster. Well you can't fool the nose on a Basset like that. The dog fooled my mom though, she liked the spicy and mustardy eggs better than the others, even horseraddish didn't work, or she liked condiments on the eggs she also kept stealing, lol. We finally fixed her sort of. We put a short gate on the chicken yard, a little over 2' IIRC. Easy chicken hop, but too much for an egg fat stubby legged Basset Hound. She always hunted stray eggs that were laid outside the coup till old age, but wouldn't argue with a broody who told her "No". As far as we were concerned, she could have those other wrong place eggs.

 

[50-45-1]

Here are a couple ideas for you folks with egg eaters.
1. If possible make your nest boxes darker. Some people hang curtins or add roofs to make the interior of the box darker. If you can situate the nest boxes so they do not have bright sunlight directly shining into them, it helps. Chickens have no night vision and can not eat it if they cant see it clearly.
2. Put pinless peepers on your egg eater. (This works for a feather pinker or bully also) after she wears the goggles for 4 to 6 weeks, remove them and she may have forgotten about the habbit. I purchased 24 goggles with the tool to put them on, for $13.00 from amazon.
Below is my feather picker who is cured after wearing goggles for 6 weeks.