Egg Eating; Not Using Newly Constructed Roll Away Egg Boxes

[Rubbishist]

I've had one group of chickens (4) since 2022, another group (3) since 2023, they have been integrated and laying for some time. I don't know what caused the egg eating behavior to start but I thought they just weren't laying eggs. It turns out they're just eating them all. It seems to be the newer group that started eating the eggs to the point that before one is even done sitting on the egg after laying it, they're nosing their way in to get the egg before it dries off. I pulled an egg today that was still wet with one chicken sitting on it and another trying to get to it. This was laid on the coop floor, where the majority of the chickens tend to lay now after I constructed the rollaway boxes. At most it seems to be 2 that use the rollaway boxes because that's the most I've taken out of them since building them about 10 days ago. I've collected up to 3 at a time from the coop floor while I was out there working on it, but most of the time I'm just cleaning up crushed egg shells and mess from their cannibalistic meals. Either way, it seems the majority of them no longer like the nesting boxes, presumably because of the slope necessary to create the rollaway effect.

If I put a fake egg in the rollaway box, obviously it rolls. The fake eggs in the coop just get kicked around. I tried dish soap in an egg but it didn't seem to fool them into eating it. Does anyone have any tips to get them to lay in the boxes they're supposed to lay in instead of on the floor where they're free snacks?

 

[ShotgunDog]

I also have roll away nesting boxes. Just before my girls began laying, I hot-glued pennies to a few plastic (Easter) eggs and put one egg (and only one) in each nesting box. The eggs got pushed around a bit, but the pennies stopped them from being able to roll back. They got the hint about where to lay. They've been laying since July and I have only one girl who sometimes doesn't get it right (lays from the roost from time to time).

 

[ShotgunDog]

Also, what material do you have on the floor of your nesting boxes? I put indoor/outdoor carpeting on the 'floors' and then I stapled artificial turf to the 3 sides of each box (but high enough to allow the eggs to roll). I put curtains on the boxes to give them a better sense of security as well. I did all of this to make this the 'best place ever' to lay an egg.

 

[TexasBlues]

Pics of the nest boxes?
Good idea above about using the turf for the backside. And good idea about glueing the penny.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I use the plastic easter eggs and put a big nut (from a bolt) inside and that stopped them from rolling. Lowers the center of gravity.

 

[ShotgunDog]

I use the plastic easter eggs and put a big nut (from a bolt) inside and that stopped them from rolling. Lowers the center of gravity.

Brilliant! I wish I'd thought of that!

 

[Rubbishist]

I have these rubber 'egg mats' that I've had since they started laying. I taped some nickels to some ceramic eggs so they wouldn't roll. I tried hot glue but it didn't seem to stick to the egg or the nickels. Really cheap glue probably. The fake eggs seem to stay put more or less, but the vast majority of eggs are still being laid on the floor of the coop.

The pictures are from my perspective. The first two are taken without the removable backer board that roughly equates to how the boxes were before I modified them into roll away boxes with a piece of flooring with wood on the bottom to create a slope. The backer board is roughly equivalent to how my access door butted up against the boxes before the modification and also creates the rollaway space for the eggs.

I'm really at a loss here. I have a game camera up to see if maybe its just one that's doing the eating, but several seem to have really yellow feet and beaks. Outside of getting rid of one or all of the hens, which is really depressing, the only other option I know of trying is either buying or building standalone rollaway boxes with a closed area for the eggs to roll into and putting it on the coop floor in the hopes they'll use those boxes instead of the floor, but the same issue of them not liking the slope exists there too.

 

[Rubbishist]

Would it be advisable to try a 20% feed instead of 16%? Or do they just have it in their little chicken minds that eggs are tasty treats regardless at this point

 

[lagrange chicks]

I think once they get a taste for egg it's hard to break them from eating them. Thats where the roll away nest box is suppose to help. I had a hen trying to roll the egg back up the angle on the nest box the other day with no luck.

 

[Rubbishist]

Well I seem to have unwittingly engineered a fatal design flaw into the roll away boxes; they have to actually use the box for it to work.