Egg eating

[Smileybans]

Today one of the hens dumped the egg basket when my back was turned. Half the eggs broke and everyone treated it like some kind of buffet. It was a struggle to get everyone to stop crowding the broken eggs but after I cleaned up the mess they figured out the good stuff was gone. However they now associate the egg basket with food. Are they going to start eating all the eggs? Will I be finding broken eggs in the coop? Or will my numbers just start dwindling? How do I break them of thinking the eggs are their food?

 

[3KillerBs]

With a little luck this will be a one-off and they never get the idea that they could break eggs on purpose.

A couple weeks ago I dropped an egg in the coop and broke it so I immediately stomped on it so it wouldn't look egg-like as they ate it. They haven't broken any eggs that I can tell yet.

 

[aart]

With a little luck this will be a one-off and they never get the idea that they could break eggs on purpose.

Ditto Dat.

Might want to use a different egg basket for awhile and never put it down where they can get at it.

 

[Smileybans]

With a little luck this will be a one-off and they never get the idea that they could break eggs on purpose.

Someone had laid an egg off the roost last week and no one cared about that. I looked up reasons they could be eating their eggs and I’m hoping curiosity was the reason.

Might want to use a different egg basket for awhile and never put it down where they can get at it.

I hadn’t thought of using a different basket but I will. I usually try not to put it down but there was a broody I wanted to deal with before I forgot. Next thing I knew there was a commotion and the roosters were calling everyone over for a snack.

 

[589205]

Egg aprons work quite well too.

 

[aart]

Someone had laid an egg off the roost last week and no one cared about that.

Did it break?
If not, that's a good sign.

 

[Smileybans]

Did it break?
If not, that's a good sign.

It had. It didn’t look like anyone had touched it but that doesn’t mean they didn’t.

 

[Isadora]

Also collect the eggs as quickly as possible.
I have an Easter egger who breaks eggs on purpose. It's very frustrating.

 

[aart]

It had. It didn’t look like anyone had touched it but that doesn’t mean they didn’t.

If they had touched it at all, the whole thing likely would have been consumed.
So even better news.

 

[Meyer_Hatchery]

Also collect the eggs as quickly as possible.
I have an Easter egger who breaks eggs on purpose. It's very frustrating.

I would second this suggestion to collect the eggs multiple times a day. Don't give any of them a chance to eat eggs!