Eating eggs but not hens

[ronott1]

Snakes eat the whole thing, shell and all. Crows and Jays will eat eggs, as will Starlings.

X2! Blue Jays are a common culpret

 

[Josey Wales]

X2! Blue Jays are a common culpret

Well I DO have a B.O. sunflower seed feeder very close to the pen and even throw handfuls into the pen sometimes. Maybe this attracting Jays? 90% of the birds that feed there are Cardinals.

 

[Ljc01]

I caught a Steller Jay in the act on day!

 

[Folly's place]

I had rats breaking and eating eggs, and then kill bantam pullets at night, before the problem was solved. Nasty!
An egg eating chicken will often punch a hole in one end of the shell, and then break the whole thing and eat the contents. Protein deficient diets can be an issue, or just a bird who's developed a neat trick.
I've never had Jays in my coop, so no idea about that. A weasel would wipe out everyone; a opossum might start eating feed and eggs before taking out chickens, maybe.
Mary

 

[ronott1]

Well I DO have a B.O. sunflower seed feeder very close to the pen and even throw handfuls into the pen sometimes. Maybe this attracting Jays? 90% of the birds that feed there are Cardinals.

There was a thread where the owner was getting so frustrated because he thought his hens were eating the eggs. A game cam was installed and the culprit caught on camera was a blue jay!

The answer was to make the coop blue jay proof LOL!

 

[centrarchid]

Young Opossum or young skunk.

 

[MROO]

Well I was hoping it wasn't the hens because 1) in the two years I've had them they have NEVER done that and 2) I figured they would eat the whole shell or at least most of it. The ones eaten were basically just busted open at one end with about the top third gone and the insides eaten. They both looked alike in the way they were done.

That doesn't sound like the hens are doing it. Hens are messy eaters and the "ends only" is too neat and consistent. That sounds like rats.