EGG EATING

[dgh]

I have 2- 8 month old bantams who are eating eggs. I believe they discovered that it would be fruitful when I had some eggs freeze and break this winter. They are the only 2. flock is healthy. acres to roam in, everyone is laying.
I'm told that trimming their beaks could help.
Is beak trimming the some as de-beaking?

 

[ilovechickens]

I don't know, but I had to cull my egg eaters, they started to share the tasty treats, So the head eater is gone, it is a bad habit. And the egg eating stopped. More experienced chicken people can probably help you more then I.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Check out this thread. It might help.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=143048

 

[brettnreno]

Quote:
I had a problem with all my hens eating my eggs. I let a hen sit on some eggs a while back but it was pretty cold out and when I candled at 14 days they didn't seem to be developing so I pulled her eggs.

About a week after that, the egg eating commenced. I tried everything here short of culling them all and starting over when I got an idea. I removed the straw from my nestboxes and put in alfalfa.

I haven't had an egg eaten since.

 

[dgh]

I don't know why changing the bedding would help. I wish chickens could talk.
After laying, there may have been extra need of protein. Try dried cat food for a protein boost: the round shapes. I know overcrowding and other stress conditions will cause egg eating, I have none of those problems.
I have the opportunity to give these 2 birds to someone on Craigslist. I wonder if a change in venue would stop the behavior and the need to dispatch these poor birds.

 

[pattycake]

Don't cut their beaks!!! I fixed my egg eating -- dont' listen to people who say it's not possible.

Chickens eat eggs because they need the minerals and/or because they crack in the nest. So...

1. Make sure they're eating lots of protein and trace chemicals. Add black oil sunflower seed to their diet -- give it to them as a treat once a day. I heard that feather eating is also caused by a lack of protein/trace minerals that are in sunflower seeds, so if your chickens are also plucking feathers, this might help that, too.

2. Put a piece of carpet sample in the bottom of the next. This will help keep eggs from cracking even if the shells are thin. Shells get thin naturally in winter, which is when egg eating seems to happen the most. I give mine oyster shell, too, but it doesn't always keep the shells from getting thin.

My chickens are two years old and will occasionally eat an egg, but only if it breaks -- and it usually breaks because some dumb hen lays it on top of a two by four or something. My first winter with them I freaked because I thought they were going to keep eating half the eggs and I'd have to cull them. But it's not longer a serious problem.

 

[sandypaws]

it can starts as a mineral deficancy but it turns into a bad habit.. some you can stop,, others you can not..
i do trim beaks.... it is NOT the same as de-beaking because when i trim them they always grow back.. when you "debeak" it does NOT grow back....
i trim/cut the "point" off of the top part of the beak.. it might bleed a little, so i stop the bleeding with "kwik stop" it is FOR nail cutting, taildocking, etc.. small bleeding areas...
i trim just enough off so they dont have a sharp point to break the shells with.... sometime i know i got the right hen because if she trys to eat another egg before her beak is healed, she will leave blood spots on the egg she is trying to eat...
i trim beaks because i dont want to cull.. if you can NOT stop them you need to cull them before they teach others how to do it...