Egg eaters!!!!

[Twinstates]

We've been getting burned out with our flock. We have 18 total (5 ducks, 1 drake, 1 rooster 11 hens) They are ALL eating the eggs. They get plenty to eat and drink and have enough supplements. The only thing we can contribute egg eating to is them being bored once we built a pen for them instead of them over grazing our front yard and burning the grass with their poop. Not to mention, just sitting on the front step and pooping. It wasn't like they were roaming around very much and they were eating all my plants! I've done the mustard and hot sauce several times and they gobbled it all up! I've also put up curtains and they still eat them. The only other thing I can think of is changing the nesting boxes so the eggs roll backwards and away. At this point we can't afford to keep buying feed all for them to eat the eggs too. Any other suggestions before I lose my ever-loving-mind?!

 

[Mutchi]

some of my girls eat their eggs but then my roo attacks them i wonder whats wrong with yours?

 

[nuthatched]

Dispatch and start fresh? I don't know what else to do on that scale...

 

[HappyClucker7]

Get some fake eggs or golf balls. Go out to the coop and collect eggs as often as you can, then replace them with the fake eggs. When your birds go to eat the "eggs", it won't work. After a while, they should give up.
Another thing you could try, that I just thought of, is putting pine tar on the fake eggs. I don't know how ducks would react to it, but I know chickens hate the taste. If they get some in their mouths, they might stop trying to eat the eggs quicker than just using fake eggs alone.

 

[Twinstates]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have to climb up a small slope to get to our coop and I'm pregnant, so it makes it hard to go out there every hour. I'm pretty sure as soon as the eggs are laid, they turn around and eat them. I try to run out there any time I hear the egg song though.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have to climb up a small slope to get to our coop and I'm pregnant, so it makes it hard to go out there every hour. I'm pretty sure as soon as the eggs are laid, they turn around and eat them. I try to run out there any time I hear the egg song though.

Congratulations! If you can't go out there all the time, that's okay. Just try to go as often as you can, or, if possible, get someone to go for you.

 

[Twinstates]

Thanks so much! Also I ordered fake eggs, so I'm hoping they work

 

[aart]

We've been getting burned out with our flock. We have 18 total (5 ducks, 1 drake, 1 rooster 11 hens) They are ALL eating the eggs. They get plenty to eat and drink and have enough supplements. The only thing we can contribute egg eating to is them being bored once we built a pen for them instead of them over grazing our front yard and burning the grass with their poop.

Did the egg eating start when you confined them?

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

How big is their coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.

Get some fake eggs or golf balls. Go out to the coop and collect eggs as often as you can, then replace them with the fake eggs. When your birds go to eat the "eggs", it won't work. After a while, they should give up.

Yeppers!

Another thing you could try, that I just thought of, is putting pine tar on the fake eggs. I don't know how ducks would react to it, but I know chickens hate the taste. If they get some in their mouths, they might stop trying to eat the eggs quicker than just using fake eggs alone.

I think that would make a big mess....and would distinguish fakies from real ones.
You want them to think the fakies are real.

 

[Aapomp831]

Hot sauce will do nothing since chickens don’t have capsaicin receptors. And mustard - chickens LOVE vinegar.

 

[Twinstates]

I believe the rooster started the egg eating along with a hen or two. Once we confined them, everyone started. I can't remember the exact measurements, but I remember when my husband made it, we had more birds then and we made sure they each had the suggested square foot per bird. We feed twice/three times a day of layer crumble and they get lots of scraps. Just eyeing the run, it's at least 45' x 25'.