Egg Eating Behavior

[Urbanfarmmama]

I'm a newbie to this site, but I've been a backyard chicken mama for a few years now. I have a large coop with a built in run in my large backyard, and I started out with a flock of 10 hens (a mix of breeds - Rhode Island Reds, Light Brahmas, Auracanas, Buff Orping., Black Australorpd) that I raised from day old chicks. They laid for me extremely well until one day they started eating their eggs. I researched the heck out of it and implemented everything suggested. Addressed any possible nutritional deficiencies, added curtains to the nesting boxes (worked great for awhile)...you name it, I did it. Never fully fixed it. After months of fighting for every egg and still coming up short, I gave up and decided to start all over. This Feb, ordered all new chicks (this time, only 2 breeds, Light Brahmas and Auracanas), and hung on to one older Light Brahma that my children couldn't bear to part with. When I moved the chicks out to the outdoor coop at 8 weeks of age, I had the Light Brahma in a separate enclosure, and I caught her laying and eating her own eggs. I promptly eliminated her from the flock, so she wasn't around the other girls for more than a few days. Although she was never in the coop integrated with the other chicks, I know they could see her do this. Fast forward to today and at 19 weeks old, one of my Auracanas laid her first egg....and it was eaten by someone in the flock. I found a broken shell and yolk everywhere in the nesting box. I want to beat my head against the wall in frustration. Is it possible they learned this behavior back when they saw the Light Brahma do it weeks and weeks ago?? They never would have had access to an egg to eat it, so they could only have watched her. I want to cry, if I'm gonna have to start all over again after raising these hens for the past 4+ months.

 

[nchls school]

I'm a newbie to this site, but I've been a backyard chicken mama for a few years now. I have a large coop with a built in run in my large backyard, and I started out with a flock of 10 hens (a mix of breeds - Rhode Island Reds, Light Brahmas, Auracanas, Buff Orping., Black Australorpd) that I raised from day old chicks. They laid for me extremely well until one day they started eating their eggs. I researched the heck out of it and implemented everything suggested. Addressed any possible nutritional deficiencies, added curtains to the nesting boxes (worked great for awhile)...you name it, I did it. Never fully fixed it. After months of fighting for every egg and still coming up short, I gave up and decided to start all over. This Feb, ordered all new chicks (this time, only 2 breeds, Light Brahmas and Auracanas), and hung on to one older Light Brahma that my children couldn't bear to part with. When I moved the chicks out to the outdoor coop at 8 weeks of age, I had the Light Brahma in a separate enclosure, and I caught her laying and eating her own eggs. I promptly eliminated her from the flock, so she wasn't around the other girls for more than a few days. Although she was never in the coop integrated with the other chicks, I know they could see her do this. Fast forward to today and at 19 weeks old, one of my Auracanas laid her first egg....and it was eaten by someone in the flock. I found a broken shell and yolk everywhere in the nesting box. I want to beat my head against the wall in frustration. Is it possible they learned this behavior back when they saw the Light Brahma do it weeks and weeks ago?? They never would have had access to an egg to eat it, so they could only have watched her. I want to cry, if I'm gonna have to start all over again after raising these hens for the past 4+ months. 

I doubt that your young chickens learned egg eating behavior by watching an older hen do so weeks prior.
Hopefully the egg was accidentally broken and then eaten. With luck this won't be repeated. You might want to try putting more cushioning in the nest boxes as it makes it harder to break an egg as compared to a more solid surface. Good luck.

 

[nchls school]

I have been thinking about your problem. It has been a great many years since I had an egg eater so I have been wracking my brain trying to remember. As I was feeding my birds this morning it came to me. To figure out which bird is eating eggs, if any, place an egg near the birds and watch. Usually an egg eater will go for it quite quickly. Sometimes I could stop this behavior by putting a very realistic dummy egg that can't be broken where the chickens have broken eggs before. You can make a good dummy egg by hollowing out a real egg and filling it with plaster. When the egg can['t be broken the hens stop trying to break any egg. This method does not always work, but at times it did; especially with birds that have not been eating eggs for a long time. I hope this helps.

 

[aart]

I have been thinking about your problem. It has been a great many years since I had an egg eater so I have been wracking my brain trying to remember. As I was feeding my birds this morning it came to me. To figure out which bird is eating eggs, if any, place an egg near the birds and watch. Usually an egg eater will go for it quite quickly. Sometimes I could stop this behavior by putting a very realistic dummy egg that can't be broken where the chickens have broken eggs before. You can make a good dummy egg by hollowing out a real egg and filling it with plaster. When the egg can['t be broken the hens stop trying to break any egg. This method does not always work, but at times it did; especially with birds that have not been eating eggs for a long time. I hope this helps.