Eating Eggs?

[Dadspossum]

I am new to the ''Chicken Business,'' and I need to know will they eat the eggs? I have went to gather the eggs one day and they're was sticky stuff around them and on some. At first I thought they were craping on them, but then the other day I saw a broken egg and the egg yolk. Are they craking them or are they breaking when the are layed? I mean they have lots of padding (hay) but... I don't know if they are eating them or not. What can i do to stop it if they are?

Thanks.

 

[gritsar]

Yes chickens can turn egg eaters and unfortunately it's a very hard habit to break.
Do a search using the BYC search feature, keywords "egg eating" and you'll find lots of tips for breaking the habit.
Good luck to you.

 

[chickenma]

Are they just starting too lay?
Maybe their eggshell is not hard enough and they need oyster shell.

 

[Opa]

Breaking an egg eater is an extremely difficult thing to do. Sometime even identifying which hen is the culprit is hard. I've found the best way is to remove the eggs from the nest the moment the hen raises off of it. This can be accomplished with a rollout nest.