Colorado

[Mtn Margie]

HI All,
I would love some advice on egg eating. I have a red star who is going after eggs. I have separated her to cull, but am afraid the rest of the flock has picked up the habit. We have been watching them a ton this weekend, and have twice seen 5 or 6 chickens run for a just laid egg. Is there any hope in this situation?
Wendy

I would definitely increase the % protein that they are getting asap. That is usually the number one cause of it starting. I regularly feed 20% protein layer and then when they are molting or just out of sorts, I will give them cooked beef soup bones or something like that. I would also add lots of wooden or ceramic eggs to the nest boxes so that the newly laid eggs do not stick out so much. You should give them about 3 weeks to a month to catch up if it is a protein thing. Good Luck!

 

[WendyGeisler]

Thanks Suncatcher and Mt.Margie,
I am so frustrated.
Today I filled 4 egg shells with Cheyenne pepper, vinegar, bitter apple, and hot sauce. I placed them in the spots where we see the eggs being eaten. Then I sat back and watched. It was the whole flock, including the rooster that was going after the eggs. Boy they sure didn't like them. I watched them wipe their beaks on the ground and run for the water containers.

I will definitely try some dog food/cat food to see if the extra protein will help. I will also check and see if I have 20% or 16% protein in my layer food. I do have 8 wooden eggs outside in the areas that they like to lay. We have so many places that they like to lay that it's hard. I do have 2 nesting boxes with the roll away egg catchers, but they like to lay in the coops, in a community laying bin. I can't police these areas constantly.

 

[WendyGeisler]

Here are some photos from my experiment. I placed the 4 mustard/chey pepper/hot sauce eggs in different areas. THe first photo I put it on the ground and 5 ran over immediately to tear it open.




Even the female turkey jumped in the coop to see what was going on.



The rooster was the worst. He tried 3 different eggs.

 

[saellis]

HI All,
I would love some advice on egg eating. I have a red star who is going after eggs. I have separated her to cull, but am afraid the rest of the flock has picked up the habit. We have been watching them a ton this weekend, and have twice seen 5 or 6 chickens run for a just laid egg. Is there any hope in this situation?
Wendy

I had the same problem for a while but was able to break them of the habit with a roll away nest box and gathering the eggs quickly. I was checking every hour when they were in their egg-eating frenzy. Now I just check a couple times a day and have closed off the roll away nest box. I've only had to open it again when they had one short episode of relapse. Ditto on the protein advice.

 

[saellis]

Duplicate post

 

[suncatcher]

Wow, you supersized the "yuck" in those filled eggs! LOL Yikes, even the rooster is in on it! You may only have to do the dog foor or cat food for a week or two, sometimes they just seem to get low on protein when the bugs are scarce, such as now. My daughters chickens quit eating them on their own, and one went broody last month, so pretty sure they are over it.

Is hard when they have many laying spots, or like only one inside the coop. Can you add a roll away on the outside of your coop and box they favor? I read everything I could find when my daughters were doing it, many said it can't be undone, but I disagree.

 

[WendyGeisler]

I have 2 roll away nesting boxes, but to be honest the girls have never really liked them or used them. We have them hung outside by the coop door. They really like to lay in a community nesting box, or in the 2 coops. My husband tried to force the issue yesterday by taking away the community box, and locking them out of the coops all day. He got 2 eggs. We normally get 10 or 12 daily, so I think the girls were laying on the ground and then the eggs were attacked.

 

[Pozees]

Wendy I just want to agree the suggestion that egg eating is almost always an indication the flock needs more protein. Scrambled or hard boiled eggs, cat food or dog food, tuna, anything you have handy that will supply more protein will help.

 

[suncatcher]

I have 2 roll away nesting boxes, but to be honest the girls have never really liked them or used them. We have them hung outside by the coop door. They really like to lay in a community nesting box, or in the 2 coops.  My husband tried to force the issue yesterday by taking away the community box, and locking them out of the coops all day. He got 2 eggs. We normally get 10 or 12 daily, so I think the girls were laying on the ground and then the eggs were attacked. 

Yep, they have their favorite laying boxes, I know, this is what we were looking at to add to the outside of her coop, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-Nes...912?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c397fc440 You would have to build it yourself as it has to slope. They hens still use if from the inside,it is still in the same place, but you add a peice of wood so it is angled to let the eggs roll to the outside, we thought of adding a hinged lid too.

The filled eggs might make them stop quicker, but it took close to a month for them to stop eating their eggs. She bought the Walmart can dog food that comes in chunks of meat, not the ground up kind, each chicken got one or two pieces every other day. Pretty sure they thought they were eating bugs the way they ate it up.

Agree on the boiled eggs, I have done that with a broody, she was nice and fat, even after being on the nest longer than three weeks, as she was determined to hatch those eggs! Mash them up good, so they don't look like eggs though! I used a hand potatoe masher, works great.

 

[Percheron chick]

I wonder if the mustard eggs will work on my annoying egg stealing magpies.

All the posts about hatching chicks briefly made me want to start on next years pullets. In case anyone is considering some chicks right now, I stopped by Feeder Supply yesterday and they had about 100 chicks. They had assorted wyandottes and brahmas, BR, CM, white and brown leghorns, red sexlinks, EE and some others I can't think of. The EEs were probably 3 weeks old and the rest one week.