Chickens ate an egg!!

[Lifetime chicken lover]

So this morning I opened the coop and found an egg eaten completely out. I don't think the egg was there last night when I closed them up so one of them layed VERY early this morning (6am)...so now what?! I heard once they get a taste of egg, they become serial eaters. Anyone have experience with this? What do I do now?

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

I have heard that too, but there is some hope. I caught Spot (White Rock +? barn yard mutt) eating an egg one day and called my mother in distress. "Maybe it just happened to be broken and this was an egg-eating of opportunity?" Mom suggested. No need to jump to conclusions unless it happens more than once.

For the next couple of days, be very vigilant about collecting eggs. Make sure you hens are not lacking for food and water. You might even pull out some sort of treat and feed them away from the nest box. Take away the opportunity to be "bad" and distract them as much as possible. I hope that works for you.

At my mother's house, they had a bad thunderstorm back in early July. One of their Red Star hens apparently died of heart failure during the storm. She was over two years old. Then Mom noticed they were getting more eggs each day. The collected eggs didn't have slime (broken egg) on them. AND the rooster's comb started to heal ("someone" had been picking on his comb)! The now-deceased Red Star was an egg eater! Needless to say, my mother and my brother are no longer upset that a hen died. Add to it that Miss Egg Eater had apparently been consuming 5 or 6 eggs per day (the amount of the "increase") and they are almost happy the hen is gone.

 

[flgardengirl]

That doesn't necessarily mean they will become serial egg eaters. One may have accidently stepped on the egg and crushed it and chickens being inquisitive pigs anyways ..ate it lol. One way to make sure they don't start eating eggs is to be sure to check the nest box several times a day. If the eggs are not sitting around they can't get into the habit of eating them or accidently stepping on them. You won't always have to do this but when they are first laying and until they are used to the eggs it does help.

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

After closer inspection, it looks like one of my hens layed the egg from the roost and it broke open. So, it isn't likely that after getting a taste of it, they will go looking for them?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

If my pullets step on one or it breaks open, they will go CRAZY to eat it, but they wont purposefully break it and eat it...