Eating eggs

[Dm598]

I am at a loss I have tried everything I could think of to get the chickens to stop eating their eggs but nothing is working mustard in eggs tobasco sauce golf balls the ceramic eggs but nothing is helping they have a clean coop they have plenty of space to roam but one of them ruined it for all 24hens any suggestions?

 

[Debbie292d]

Upping their protein/calcium may help, but usually, that's a bad behavior that can be tough to stop.

I know someone here who made curtains for the nest boxes which did the trick!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Have you tried rollaway nest boxes?

 

[nuthatched]

Using liquid soap works bettersince birds can't taste spicy. Whats their diet?

 

[2ndTink]

I had to get a rollaway nesting box for my egg eating coop.

 

[CoopBoots]

If you are wanting to ID the culprit, a camera could help. Definitely useful to know how many offenders you may be up against.

 

[orelsi]

As sad as it is, if a hen starts doing it and the usual measures don't help (I have found catching her in the act and pushing her beak in mustard highly effective), the only option left is culling. She will teach the other hens to do it as well and you will have a real problem then.

 

[2ndTink]

As sad as it is, if a hen starts doing it and the usual measures don't help (I have found catching her in the act and pushing her beak in mustard highly effective), the only option left is culling. She will teach the other hens to do it as well and you will have a real problem then.

Agreed, by the time I figured out what was happening to the eggs (I put in a game cam, once I noticed eggs would be there and then gone without a trace) my whole flock had joined in the egg eating. So I was faced with finding a work around, or culling them all. I couldn't bring myself to eat them (although I had some days I was completely loved with them! They would lay an egg in the run and everyone would dive in before I could even get through the gate ) the rollaway box was their last chance. Even that wasn't perfect but it helped me get enough eggs from them to he able to keep them around. The problem I have now is that I can't add more birds to that group, and can't move any of them around to my other coops. They are stuck with being in the coop they are in because it's the only one the roll away boxes fit in.

Egg eaters are a pain, and I've heard some people successfully break them, but I wasn't so lucky.