Egg eating chickens.....

[mboreham1]

My chickens have constant access to oyster shell, food, water, entertainment, they have straw in their laying boxes and there are fake wooden eggs in all the boxes.......

why oh why do they still persist on eating their own eggs? They are about 15 months old, very healthy, free range, i am in Northern CA.

Tell me what you know!

 

[bumpershoot]

I had a hen that decided to be an egg eater. I upped her protein and collected the eggs piratically the moment they were laid. It helped. You might try putting out soaked oatmeal.

 

[mboreham1]

soaked oatmeal? soaked in what? Is oatmeal high in protein?

 

[bburn]

Just looked up oatmeal because I wondered myself if it had a lot of protein.....complex carbs is what it says.

I have oyster shell out, I treat with plain yogurt and cottage cheese and BOSS.

I have hard eggs.

BUT....someone laid an egg in the floor of the coop again today. This time somehow it got broken and I got there in time to see a hen running with a piece of the eggshell in her mouth and the rest were chasing her. I was going out to rake out the wood chips and went ahead and did it. When I finished I looked through the window and everyone was in there....looking for another egg I think! Yikes!!!!

I know the times of day when they are laying and I will be making regular trips out to the coop the next few days and try to catch the floor layer. She may get moved out if I can catch her. Problem is I only have 11 hens and 9 look just about alike so I will have to catch her in the act and then catch her if she does not get mixed up with everyone else! Other than that I don't know what you do.

mboreham1 we have a problem........

 

[mboreham1]

bburn yes we do!

How do the eggs from commercial laying farms roll away? I know they have only a tiny area to live, mine are obviously not like that, but how do i adapt traditional boxes to have a "roll away" area?

I work 9-5 m-f, so being around when they lay isnt going to happen, the Mrs walked out and found 2 going at the eggs they just laid. Its not the first time, i have never had a soft shell ever, so i am a little at a loss!

I will have to run the problem by my father in law, if it can be invented, he will do it!

 

[mboreham1]

p.s

how do you keep the flies away from the yogurt? doesnt it go ransid very quickly? mine love yogurt but they only get it once in a while because it attracts bugs

 

[bburn]

first...I give them only as much yogurt as I think they can eat pretty quickly....there are several who prefer it off the wooden spoon...I can do that...

I actually have nest boxes that came from a laying house. However, they were supposed to be back to back with the roll away thingy between them. We hung them single file. The reason I know the egg was laid on the floor of the coop...besides the fact that one was laid there before that they did not eat....is that they would have to hoist it out of the nest box to get it out! It is that deep. So, I have one that is laying on the floor and I have to catch her in the act. I will then remove her into the other pen with the Lone Rooster...who, by the way, is getting new girls tomorrow night but they won't be with him for 30 days. He will be happy. She won't. Maybe she will stop laying and that would be okay with me. When the 30 days is up I will put her back in the flock....maybe. By then I might try and rehome her. That is all I can think of.

BTW...I do the cottage cheese the same way.

I think for me today was a fluke. I think the egg was broken by accident and then became fair game. If no one lays on the floor again it should not be a problem.....I hope. They could start getting up and checking the nests and start eating them there......

we still have a problem

Oh....there is a fella on here who designed a nest box that is a roll away....do a search on roll away nest box and see what comes up....I am heading that way right now!!

 

[bburn]

Try this link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=287684

yep...that is it, the one I read

If your DFIL can build you one that is your answer. Now go type in egg eaters....again, I am headed that way too!

 

[floridaquilter]

I had a couple of egg eating hens but they stopped when I placed a piece of plywood on top of their egg boxes. Thought I would mention this to make sure you have a cozy egg box for the hens. they will have little room for standing up and eating their eggs. I saw this solution on a thread here and worked for me! I received broken eggs everyday after I removed a board from the top of their boxes. I thought they didn't have enough room to get in the egg boxes. they would lay them and break them. now I put the lid back on and they no longer break their own eggs. thinking they were mad at me for removing it!

 

[bburn]

I have commercial nest boxes. Bought them used. I worried when I saw the egg boxes in peoples coops online that they were too small. The opening anyway...the inside is plenty big because I made my DH measure it and it was the right measurement.

Mine are not eating them in the nest. I have one hen that lays in the corner in the floor. If I don't catch her today I am going to put something IN the corner to block it off so she maybe will go on up to the nest box. I know exactly where she laid it because after I cleaned the coop and opened the door back up everyone came back in to look for another egg! In the corner! (and it might not happen again as it was just one)

NOW I wish I had left the two rows connected back to back like they were meant to be so the roll out would work. Will get my DH to look at it when he comes back and see if he can figure it out.

Now I see the beauty of roll out nest boxes!