Caught wet-beaked!

[Ohhhdear]

Mid morning I went to gather the eggs from my 12 hens. I lifted one hatch and oh, my! The guilty hen quickly backed out of one nest box, wet with egg white and yolk from the tip of her beak to her ears! One egg in the nest box was smashed and mostly eaten, including the shell. Another had a big peck in the end.
This has been going on for at least a month, though not every day.
The girls get a good quality 16% protein feed, supplemented with a scoop of mixed scratch and BOSS, and have a huge area to roam and gather yummies, so this is a bad habit I'm going to have to stop before the other girls pick up on it.

I'm not sure this hen is laying or not. I get an average of 10 eggs every day, but that includes the broken/eaten ones I find in the nest boxes.

I'm open to suggestions, though I'm pretty certain she'll have to be separated from the rest more or less permanently.

 

[ChicKat]

Hi Ohhhdear,

Have you thought about putting a fake egg in the nest box? I have some that are ceramic--and hard as a rock. If the egg-breaker encounters egg too hard to peck open she may loose interest in egg eating.

Separation is a good idea...before any other hens learn the trick. Good luck with it.

 

[mkcolls]

Are you providing oyster shell or grinding eggshells and feeding them back to the laying hens for calcium? Even if your feed has calcium some hens need more and providing an additional source, free choice may be needed. Just place a small dish in the coop, those that need it will eat it and those that don't just taste it and leave it.

No, feeding back eggshells will not make them egg eaters. I rinse the shells of the eggs that we use, let them air dry, microwave them for 1 minute, and I have a small grinder that grinds them to herb size pieces. Several family members that benefit from free eggs also save eggshells for us. Takes me maybe 5 minutes a week.

Ceramic eggs or plastic eggs with dish washing liquid inside is also recommended to break egg eaters.

 

[shober]

I had this same problem and I moved the nest boxes so that they were darker. I also use the ceramic eggs. It has worked very well. I think sometimes if an egg breaks they will begin to eat it but it has been a success for me. I also game some game cock mix and cat food for extra protein. Good luck to you. It is a very frustrating problem!

 

[bairo]

I ended up finding very old plans (1930's I think) for a dark box specifically for egg pecking.

Basically it amounts to a laying box 4 foot long without dividers and only 2 small entry/exit holes (1 at each end). A community box that stays fairly dark inside.
On the day of completion the pecking stopped and I have never had another problem.
Like the old trough feeders (which I built to stop food flinging) many of the old designs work better than the new.

PS... Good post above. You can get a game cock scratch with BOSS in it at the co-op usually. Add a "small" amount of dry cat food to the scratch. And remember not to overdo it on the scratch. About a cup for every 4 chickens per day so they will eat the complete feed and get what they need.

 

[Wyogirl]

I ended up finding very old plans (1930's I think) for a dark box specifically for egg pecking.

Basically it amounts to a laying box 4 foot long without dividers and only 2 small entry/exit holes (1 at each end). A community box that stays fairly dark inside.
On the day of completion the pecking stopped and I have never had another problem.
Like the old trough feeders (which I built to stop food flinging) many of the old designs work better than the new.

PS... Good post above. You can get a game cock scratch with BOSS in it at the co-op usually. Add a "small" amount of dry cat food to the scratch. And remember not to overdo it on the scratch. About a cup for every 4 chickens per day so they will eat the complete feed and get what they need.

Do you have the plans or a picture of this box?? Would love to see it
Thanks
Ayda

 

[bairo]

Im still trying to hunt down the plans I had...but it was very easy.

The box is 4 feet wide, 16 inches deep. 16 inches tall in the front, and 24 inches tall in the back so the top ends up sloping so they dont roost on it. The front is a solid piece of plywood with a square 12x12 cut out starting a couple inches from the bottom (so shavings stay in). The top is hinged. Mine just happens to sit on top of my old poop catcher table because I had moved things around. I'll go out and take a quick picture of it when it stops raining (its pouring here now)

Laying everything flat in front of you..............
Three pieces (bottom, back, and front) that are 4 feet x 16 inches
2 sides that are 16 inches x 16 along one edge and 24 along the other edge (cut 16 x 24 and then measure up from the bottom along an edge to 16 and make a dot. draw a line at an angle from the opposite corner to your dot and cut this line)
A top piece that is 4foot 2inches x 18 inches

Assemble with a 2x2 nailing frame or use L-brackets...its up to you. 3 small hinges along the back top edge for the lid which hangs over a bit on front and both sides.
I cut the 12x12 holes after mine was put together starting 3 inches from the edge and 2 inches up.

 

[vickiw]

would really love to see pics, plans as well!

I have 4 18 month old hens I got 9 days ago (rescues in pretty rough shape). One egg a day Saturday and Sunday, ok. Then yesterday, 2 eggs BUT the one I found in the morning was smashed! Since it was out of the nest on the floor I hoped it had just been knocked out onto the floor and the box needed a design change. One I found later that day was cold so it had been there a while and was intact. Thought, ok, I was right. WRONG! Went out this morning, no eggs. Went back a little while later, 2 eggs in the same nest, one with the end poked in, grrrr!

Thank you for your help, what would I do without all you amazing folks on here!!!

 

[Ohhhdear]

Yes, they're getting oyster shell calcium. I keep it in a bowl by their feed, and also mix a handful into their feed in their big hanging feeder. I also crush up used eggshells, which they gobble.

Our coop has built in nest boxes, 3 on each side, each side has an outside hatch door to lift to gather eggs. Of course, 12 chickens do NOT use 6 nest boxes. They pick one or two nest boxes, and every hen lays in just those select places! I've seen as many as 5 hens trying to squeeze into the same nest box in an attempt to lay her egg in the nest box du jour.

I have considered that the broken eggs were just plain smashed, until I saw the hen with her face smeared in egg gook, and the broken shell mostly devoured.

The coop is elevated, and there's really no good way to incorporate a separate laying box with the coop I have now.

 

[bairo]

This is a very debatable statement, but one I happen to believe in. Some say never give shells back to hens because they develop a taste for them (probably some smell or taste in the lining of the shell) If they ever even accidental poke an egg and they associate that yummy shell they get with that egg...well, your life just went to crap. Exactly the same concept if you ever feed back eggs for extra protein..... always cook and scramble them so they will never associate it with their egg. I do not have a definitive answer for you except the old timers would watch and wait to find the culprit ASAP and she would be the next evenings dinner. If she shows the others and they try it.......well, you see where this could go. I know if my dark box would not have worked on the one I had she would be gone by now.

Good luck.... maybe someone with more experience than me will come up with something,