Caught red handed, er, yellow beaked in the act.

[dale]

I knew one of them was an egg eater but could never catch the crook. Yesterday afternoon I went to the coop to check on a couple gals I thought were broody (they weren't) and I saw a rear end sticking out of a nesting box. I yanked her out and sure enough, there was the evidence. After I scolded her I made the mistake of tossing her out of the coop without properly identifying the suspect. I can't very well execute the one that I thing is guilty as there are three that fit the general description. Now I know how a prosecuting attorney feels when the cop fails to get the proper search warrant. The suspects will be interrogate later this week. Rest assured the guilty will be discovered and will receive a fair trail before getting beheaded.

I told my 14 year old daughter about the episode and that we might have to have chicken-and-dumplings this weekend. She looks glum and said, "It makes me sad but I understand why it needs to be."

 

[I'vegotchickenfever]

ok...silly question. Can they be trained to stop, or is it too late? Have they already developed a taste for egg?

 

[Turtle]

my RIR had that issue at first, I then put a fake egg from a hobby store in there and they discovered they couldnt eat it. try golf balls and try to take the eggs out as soon as possible. I havent had a problem since.

 

[spydertoys]

A little tobasco sauce injected into an egg works also. They won't like the taste..but it won't hurt them.

 

[katrinag]

I have never had any luck with filling the eggs with anything. You can try wooden eggs or golf balls but once they start is is almost impossible to stop.
I say chicken and dumplings.

 

[rufus]

Search for the roll a way nest on this website. They lay the egg, it rolls to the back of the nest where they cannot get to it. Problem solved.

Rufus

 

[FarmerDenise]

I have had pretty good luck putting in a wooden or ceramic egg in the nest box. But removing the eggs ASAP also really helps.
Plastic eggs don't work as well, since they are not hard. When they peck on a wooden egg, it supposedly hurts their beak and stops them from pecking it. That is the theory I was told.

 

[Wynette]

THere are lots of threads on here about egg eating. It's very frustrating. I've been told that the best thing to put in a "bomb" egg is horseradish, because they cannot taste the heat from hot sauce, but the horseradish burns their nasens (nostrils).

Yes, they can be broken of it, but it takes a lot of diligence!! I didn't have good luck with golf balls; they seemed to know they weren't "right." I used wood eggs from the craft store. I also made bomb eggs with horseradish. One for each nest box. Then, I put "curtains" on the nest box openings. I was in a huge hurry to do this, and they are crooked as heck, but they work. I diligently collected (er...DH did, as he was out of work) eggs once an hour.

The first few days, the bomb eggs would be all but eaten, and I'd make more up at night. The next few days, the bomb eggs would be maybe half eaten...eventually, they weren't touched at all. It took about 10 days, and all seemed to be fine. THen, DH got a full-time job...I was SO worried...but that was over a week ago, and I've been getting 10-13 eggs a day from my 14 girls, none with cracks or holes, so I don't know which thing worked or if it was a combination, but something did the trick.

Typically, if you have one eater, you have more. THey learn from each other.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I have to tell you that not only has this advice helped me as far as chickens go but I breed and raise parrots. I personally don't have any egg eaters but I know several people who do. I'm going to suggest the horseradish egg to them.

Maybe that will help with preventing the egg eating. Especially when you have parrots that cost upwards of $1000. a piece, every eaten egg is costing the breeder money.

I LOVE THIS SITE!!

Laurie