Egg eater

[smicara]

Hi there

I’ve got 5 chickens, 1 Guinea hen and Henry. Someone is eating and pecking eggs and I don’t know who it is. They have oyster shell with added calcium, there are 2 golfballs in the nesting box (seems everyone likes to use the same box). I’ve inspected beaks on each bird and even tried mustard in an egg. Whom ever is eating the eggs ate the mustard egg, including all the mustard. I’m at a loss as to what to do. HELP!

 

[nuthatched]

What's their diet?
Fill an egg with orange dish soap, mustard, as you saw won't do anything since birds can't taste spicey or sour.

 

[smicara]

We’re feeding Purina Lauren’s. Once a week they get scratch and mealworms.

 

[smicara]

We’re feeding Purina Lauren’s. Once a week they get scratch and mealworms.

Purina Layena

 

[nuthatched]

Purina Layena

I would switch to a higher protein feed, they may be lacking .

 

[smicara]

I’ll try that.

 

[smicara]

I’ll try that.

Thank you

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Are you finding wet spots in the nests to indicate broken eggs? How often do you gather eggs? When I had egg eater(s) I would go out every hour until I caught two in the act. They were horrified and ran out of the hen house squawking and never did it again.

 

[smicara]

Thank you

I haven’t found wet spots, just yolk on eggs and eggs that have been pecked. I go out 2x/day, after I hear someone singing. I’ll try going out more often. My daughter thinks it’s because they’re bored and suggested a scratch block. I’m trying all suggestions at this point. If I catch her, she’s supper!

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Do they have free access to oyster shells? I had a big stint of egg eaters last year and we figured out it was due to poor nutrition. We switched to a better feed and restocked our free access oyster shells which solved our issue. I did also put a few rocks in each nesting box in hopes that they would peck it and since they can't break it, would be discouraged. Not sure how much that helped but that's another thing I did.