Do you cull occasional egg eaters?

[Agathe]

I have a couple of chickens that I know have eaten their eggs at times because I'll find them with yellow spots on their feathers. But I've never caught them in the act and whenever I intend to (like separate them for a while or keep an extra eye on them) they don't eat the eggs. So I don't know whether they ate them because they already broke for instance. These are the two hungriest birds in the flock so if they are intentional egg eaters it wouldn't surprise me. I've tried all the advice for avoiding such behaviour (apart from roll away nest boxes) like fake eggs, curtains, extra protein, extra calcium and so on but I still found them with yellow spots yesterday and today they laid just fine. It just makes me so in doubt whether to cull them. My biggest concern is of course that they teach the other chickens this behaviour.

 

[21hens-incharge]

In my experience they tend to eat eggs that are already cracked.
Since it's not an every day thing lets look at what can cause eggs to become cracked to rule out that possibility or fix it so less eggs are damaged.

Things that can cause eggs to be cracked.

Thin shells.
Are the shells strong or weak?

Landing in nest boxes with inadequate padding.
Are your nests bare in spots or missing padding?

Landing on other eggs already laid.
Are they laying all in one or two nests?
When you find they have eaten an egg are there other eggs with yolk and whites on them?

It is possible the eaten eggs weren't laid in a nest at all and were damaged when laid outside the nest.
Do they all prefer to use the same nest? It could be they were waiting for the favorite nest and just couldn't hold the egg any longer.

Chronic egg eaters tend to do it every day. Since it's not an every day thing I wouldn't cull just yet.

 

[Agathe]

In my experience they tend to eat eggs that are already cracked.
Since it's not an every day thing lets look at what can cause eggs to become cracked to rule out that possibility or fix it so less eggs are damaged.

Things that can cause eggs to be cracked.

Thin shells.
Are the shells strong or weak?

Landing in nest boxes with inadequate padding.
Are your nests bare in spots or missing padding?

Landing on other eggs already laid.
Are they laying all in one or two nests?
When you find they have eaten an egg are there other eggs with yolk and whites on them?

It is possible the eaten eggs weren't laid in a nest at all and were damaged when laid outside the nest.
Do they all prefer to use the same nest? It could be they were waiting for the favorite nest and just couldn't hold the egg any longer.

Chronic egg eaters tend to do it every day. Since it's not an every day thing I wouldn't cull just yet.

Thank you, that helps a lot!

I noticed once that one of the birds' eggs had weak shell, but I don't think this is a persistent issue, but might be the times they are eaten. The boxes are padded with hay but they do have their favourite ones. There are 6 for 7 birds but only half of them ever get used with one always being the favourite (which one tends to change over time). I haven't found dirty eggs (or any other evidence in the boxes, it's all gone), but then I try to check about once an hour during egg laying hours.

I'd expected to hear I should cull them, so it's a bit of a relief!

 

[LaFleche]

You can give one daily tablet of calcium citrate 600 +D3 for a week and see if the brittle shells get stronger.

Older birds can sometimes develop difficulty with the calcium uptake/conversion or a disorder of their shell gland.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I suspect they are cleaning up already cracked eggs given you have seen an occasional thin shelled egg.

I had similar issues when I had a chronic thin shelled layer. Poor girl never got a decent shell on her eggs. Since she passed I haven't had any issues. She passed at 6 years old. I would think in my larger than average flock if it was habit forming I would still see egg messes.

I occasionally crack a few eggs on top of the wet mash I give them. As an experiment I set an uncracked egg on top. They looked at me like I was nuts lol.
Once I cracked it more than half my flock came running to eat it. The flock is 29 birds so it's interesting to me that they don't/won't peck one even when put in the food dish.

 

[Callender Girl]

You've already gotten some good advice.

I've added ceramic or wooden fake eggs into the nesting boxes when I've had an issue with occasional egg eating. By giving them something that doesn't reward them for their efforts, my girls quickly give up trying to break the "eggs."

BTW, yesterday one of my Cochins got very protective of her wooden egg and objected when I tried to move her off of it.

 

[aart]

Curious, are you finding a wet mess in the nests or is the eating happening somewhere else?

These are the two hungriest birds in the flock

Why are they the hungriest?
Do you have a good chicken ration available every hour they are awake?