Egg Eating

[andreajp]

HELP......!!!!!!!
My girls are eating the eggs....! Thought it may have been only one of them but it appears that they are all into it... They eat only the yolk & white, leaving the shell..
So far the only way I can save eggs is on the week-end when I am at home. Even then I have to be quick.
They have plenty of shell grit in their yard, have lots of greens (daughter works in a fruit & veg shop) also lots of fruit. They free range around the backyard 5 out of 7 days.
Have even tried a plastic egg in the laying area....they through it out...!!!!
Somebody told me to mash egg shells with bird seed....?? Sure they loved that...

Hopefully somebody can help......
Cheers A

 

[chickenannie]

I just bought 6 hens at an auction on Friday and they've been eating the eggs in the nest here for the last 2 days too. I'm really huffed about it. They weren't cheap and it seems that someone else got rid of their egg-eaters and I unfortunately bought them.
Now I don't know what to do.

 

[unionwirewoman]

I started a post about this a little while back . Mine (18) have been doing it for over 2 months . I tried golf balls , card board lining the boxes ......everything ! Nothing has worked . I will start to cull them next week beginning with the ones that I planned on doing before this episode . Someone told me to blow out one of the eggs and put hot mustard in it . Maybe you can try that ? If you happen to have an extra pen or area to put some of them in you could try taking one out at a time till the egg eating stops . Although I have 36 acres , we don't have the time right now to build something like that (plus we still have TONS of snow and MUD !) hope this helps !

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

This is one of those things that I always get worried will some day happen to my hens. It is like a cancer, it spreads from one hen to another and is REALLY hard to get rid of.

I hate to say it, but most of the time I've read the only way to resolve the issue is to quickly cull the one(s) that do it before they teach the others.

Now I'm going to go outside and collect all my eggs to remove any temptations from my girls!

 

[andreajp]

That is bad news..........

About 3 weeks ago I gave a broody hen a chick, all this was great until I caught her & the chick eating the egg she layed.......!!!!!!
Will this mean I'll have another canibal in my roost.....???????????