Egg eaters

[proudduckowner22]

I have a flock of about 20 hens, mostly lohman browns. I have been experiencing egg eating happening a lot lately, and is getting out of control. I got 3 eggs from them today. Should be getting my usual 1 and a half doz from them. This is so frustrating, I have them always with 17% poultry laying pellets, oyster shells, grain. I have been putting golf balls in there to try to stop them, put mustard inside an egg shell, I pick eggs 3 times a day usually, they have lots of room for them, big run, and grass. But nothing is working. I want my ladies to be back to normal and I am not sure why they choose to keep eating the eggs, they have lots of good places to lay too. I don’t know if culling is the only option here, but I love my girls and I want to get them through this. Any help/advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[GCrumb]

This whole having chickens again thing started when our neighbor gave us two egg-eating hens to butcher. We kinda liked them and somebody'd told me to give them ceramic eggs. One quit pecking the fake eggs after a few tries, the other pecked four ceramic eggs to powder over a few days. So we ate the egg-eater and got some buddies for the other.

You could separate out anybody with egg on her face and see if some will quit. I'm sure none will quit of they see it working for another.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Have you tried rollaway nests?

 

[proudduckowner22]

Have you tried rollaway nests?

I have them, but they all choose not to use them which is also frustrating. I caught one of the egg thieves this morning and locked her up in a cage with some water, do I give her food as well? How long do I keep her in there? I’m sure there’s more egg eaters I still gotta catch too.

 

[3KillerBs]

Egg eating is notoriously difficult to correct and it's known to be "contagious" as the first egg-eater teaches the others.

It's not uncommon for it to require full flock replacement.

 

[proudduckowner22]

Egg eating is notoriously difficult to correct and it's known to be "contagious" as the first egg-eater teaches the others.

It's not uncommon for it to require full flock replacement.

Are you sure that’s the only way out of this? I have a lot of great laying birds in this flock that still have a good year or two of laying on them, I have been putting some eggs filled with soap and mustard out again today and they have been touching them a little bit, then after a few pecks of the insides they leave it alone, hopefully it can turn them away from it, really don’t want to have to get rid of my flock, the egg eating calmed down a bit 2 days ago, but then all of a sudden last night they all start going crazy at them again, and the ones they didn’t eat have yolk covering them, and egg shells bits in nesting areas too, I put the mustard and soap eggs in there and new bedding

 

[3KillerBs]

Are you sure that’s the only way out of this? I have a lot of great laying birds in this flock that still have a good year or two of laying on them, I have been putting some eggs filled with soap and mustard out again today and they have been touching them a little bit, then after a few pecks of the insides they leave it alone, hopefully it can turn them away from it, really don’t want to have to get rid of my flock, the egg eating calmed down a bit 2 days ago, but then all of a sudden last night they all start going crazy at them again, and the ones they didn’t eat have yolk covering them, and egg shells bits in nesting areas too, I put the mustard and soap eggs in there and new bedding

No, I am not sure. I've never had an egg-eating problem. But I've read many things from long-time experienced people about this issue and it's reputed to be very difficult to cure.

I wish you the best.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have them, but they all choose not to use them which is also frustrating. I caught one of the egg thieves this morning and locked her up in a cage with some water, do I give her food as well? How long do I keep her in there? I’m sure there’s more egg eaters I still gotta catch too.

So there's nest boxes other than the rollaways? If you remove the other nests do they just lay in other spots then?

If she's caged up then yes I would have food and water available. I also have not dealt with egg eating (other than soft shelled or broken eggs) so not really sure how long she would be caged for - not sure what that would really do other than keep her away from the eggs during the duration of caging.

You really may have to look into culling the egg eaters as you catch them, which may turn out to be the majority of the birds, if you're getting so few eggs.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

I'm dealing with this right now. I have a large rollaway nest box that this flock has used since they first started laying. Egg eating started slowly, and I'm pretty sure who it was. Isolated her and it seemed to die down. Then, it started again here and there. Not every day, but enough to start to annoy me.
Now, it's a constant battle. So dang mad. I found 2 birds on the rollaway nest box tray just standing there with yolk and white just running down their beaks. Egg all over the box and tray. Shoved birds off locking bar, closed box, and indicated that I like chicken soup and chicken salad to the culprits.
How do they get the eggs? No idea. They must pin them before they roll away. I'll find a half eaten egg in the tray. No idea how they get to them. I've even tilted the box and put pieces of metal flashing underneath to they can't get to them from under the tray.
The funny thing is I believe those experienced hen keepers who say "egg eating will not be tolerated. Re-home or cull". The problem is how do you know which one it is unless there is visible yolk on their faces or other clues?
I feel your pain, and I"m not sure how to proceed. They get plenty of protein and calcium in their diets, oyster shell, black soldier files, etc. Huge coop (converted horse stall), 1/4 acre of good pasture. These birds are freaking pampered.
Anyway, I'm not into the expense of keeping a bunch of freeloaders who think their eggs are their food and not mine. Might just have to cull them. Too bad. Great layers in the bunch.