Chicken eating all the eggs.

[Mhollem]

I thought at first something was getting in and eating the eggs, but caught my Big Girl in the act. Anyone have this problem how to I fix it?

 

[Judy]

The only fairly certain solution is rollaway nest boxes, if they lay in the nests, that is.

 

[Mhollem]

They have been laying regularly in the nesting boxes up until about 2 weeks ago. I wounder if it could be because I changed the feed? (time frame fits). She is actually waiting for the egg to drop and just grabs it. I think hers is the only egg I am getting ( I only have four girls).

 

[kera!]

I would say they are not getting enough calcium or shell try mixing oyster shell in or mix the old feed with the new and slowing change over see if it help,,also boil up 6-8 eggs grind up the whole thing shell and all add yogurt and serve your girls will love it. but i would add oyster shell.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You can try increasing both calcium and also protein. It MAY be that your new feed is inadequate, but unless it is horribly woeful in content, I doubt it is the feed. Once a chicken gets this habit, it is extremely difficult to break. These hens must usually be culled, if you cannot break her.

 

[lovin my birds]

I had this problem with one of my hens. Especially during the winter. I dont know if this will work with every chicken. But i found a block of just stuff made especially for chickens. It has some corn in it and some oyster shell, some bird seed, some grits, and some laying pellets. I bought it at a local feed store, but i have never seen it anywhere else. We tried all the little tricks to get her to stop. We even monitored her and took out every egg and put in the golf balls. Still didnt stop her. She did the same as your chicken is doing she would wait right next to the hen and the second it was laid she ate it. I think with my hen she just wasnt getting enough food.

Is your hen low on the pecking order?

Mine was, so she didnt get as much food as all the others. So when we got this when all the others were full she had the chance to go peck at it and get some more food. Ever since then not one eaten egg. It has been about a 2 months.

I did get a little worried when we had a snow a week ago cause they were stuck in the coop. But still no broken egg. Like i said i dont know if this wil work for every chicken but itworked wonders with mine.

The only problem with this is it is ten dollars a block. Which is 1x1x1 all the way around. But it looks easy to make i just havent figured out what to keep it stuck together with.
Hope this helps

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Is there any possibility that there's a problem with the feed being moldy or stale? Even if there's nothing wrong with the nutritional balance of the food, if they don't like it and aren't eating as much, that could also make a difference. Can you tell if they're eating just as much feed? Or are they eating less?

You could try picking up a bag of what you used to feed. If that was the problem and you caught it before it was a solidly ingrained habit, it might resolve on it's own. At the very least, I'd give them something with good protein and something they'll eat right away.

Did you change to a different type of feed or just a different brand? Is the new feed a layer feed with calcium? Do you provide oyster shells as a supplement? You could make sure you're doing that.

Do you give any other food? Like scratch? If they overeat foods without enough protein, that can unbalance the diet enough that they'll want to eat the eggs.

 

[Mhollem]

This morning I separated my egg eater from the others. This worked for today. Since these are more pets than farm animals. I will see what I can make work. I am going to go back to the feed I was using before, see if this makes a difference. I have noticed they have been digging deep holes since the food change so I wonder if there is not enough protein in this food.

Thanks for all the advice.