Chicken is eating her eggs and her friends eggs :(

[phantomml]

I free ranged my blue orpintons, I put out their nesting box with them and they didn't seem to care- they lay the eggs everywhere. About a week now I found only one egg a day from 10 hensm when usually its been 6-7 a day. I put an egg down that was unfertilized to see what was going on. I have one light blue almost lavander beauty that has been caught eating an egg. Because she got it open two other hens joined in. I don't think they would have pecked it open because one tried laying on it. But because the other was eating they joined in. i took the shell away, but the egg was gone in seconds. What can I do to stop this? I don't want to sell her

 

[duckinnut]

Its a pain in the you know where when this happens.I have a Barred Rock was doing the same thing but it can be stopped. Mine accidently broke one rolling it and and thats when it started.It happened a couple of times shortly there after,you just got to be vigilant about it. What I had to do was change the nest bedding and put all fresh hay and pine shavings in it. She kept coming back looking for more for a day or so,but she eventually forgot about it. Also I was frequently checking the nest boxes for eggs,I am talking every 20 mins or so,even reaching under them to get at the eggs,did this for about a week or so. So far its been 3 months since this happened so I am thinking its done but one misstep when a hen rolls her egg it could start all over again. It can be stopped though so there is hope. Some say you have to cull the bird but I believe thats not always the case. I find they are quick learners but also they forget quickly as well.Good Luck.

 

[Kotiya]

Sorry to say, but I've heard that once they learn to crack open an egg for the delicious treat inside, they have to either be separated or culled. She might teach the other birds. It sounds so harsh, but if you want eggs for yourself, you can't let her eat them.

 

[Lesa]

Make sure they have enough calcium in their diets- sometimes the "accident" happens because the shell is soft or brittle... As mentioned- getting those eggs out of there fast, helps too... good luck!

 

[MommaBugg]

Hi there,

This may sound harsh, but growing up my family ALWAYS culled what they dubbed 'egg sucking birds'.

Whether roo or hen. Once the habit is formed you cannot break it, and like others have mentioned, their 'egg sucking' will eventually be learned by other birds.

The only thing to do is cull it, or if youre attached, separate her from the flock.

 

[3 Dog Farm]

This recently started with one (or more) of our 17 layers. We immediately put golf balls in all of the nests and have been collecting every half hour for about 10 days. We still lose 1 every few days, if our timing is off. My husband just ordered a battery powered mini-camcorder and will put it in the henhouse to try and identify the "perp". If and when we do she/they will be culled. We have 25 new pullets coming along, expected to start laying in August, and we don't want this behavior to spread. I believe it started with a broken egg in the nest while we were traveling and our sitter was only checking for eggs in the evening. Apparently the nests became crowded and eggs were broken. He mentioned it to us when we spoke on the phone, but I didn't realize how severe the problem was. Lesson learned.

 

[phantomml]

I really dont want to cull her she is lavendar

I will try some things first- I hope its a new thing for her!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Other posts with the same question have had suggestions of: place fake eggs in nests; blow out an egg, fill it with mustard, put it back in the nest; and roll away nests. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Jay-Mar28]

If you pick up your chickens and inspect around the beak and face area you will sometimes notice dried up yellow yolk. You can put a band on her and check her daily and see if more yolk is ending up on her. Culprit caught.

 

[coldupnorth]

Had one this spring that was eating most of our eggs. She was the lowest on the pecking order and discovered that eggs tasted good. We ended up putting her in "Time Out" during the day - a separate pen within our run with food and water. She was still with the flock but could not get to the eggs. We let her out in the evening right before roost time and the eggs had been collected. After two weeks of this we let her roam again with the flock, but we changed a few things - golf balls in the nest boxes, collecting eggs much more frequently, and having several food and water spots available, so that she didn't feel like she was going to get run off from the feed. Seems to be working - we are getting an average of 8 (sometimes 9) eggs a day out our 9 hens.