Egg eating ???

[bulldog-girl]

I tried using the search and could not get any info. I am sure it is me-duh-anyway, We just brought home two adult chickens yesterday bought form a nice byc-er and today one of the chickens had apparently broken her egg. We did not see her do it.

Was this a mistake and do they sometimes break on accident when they are laid? Our nest boxes have lots of soft hay in them. Or is it likely that she did this herself and wanted to eat her egg?

If that is the case, how do we stop that? We were checking all morning to get the eggs as soon as they were laid. She seemed to lay late morning or right about noon.

I do have a call out to the lady we got them from. Have not yet heard back from her. Since we only have two chickens those eggs are valuable to us. Of course we love the hens no matter what.

 

[cjeanean]

Did she actually eat the egg??? I think that's the most important thing, cause if she broke it by accident it's not a big deal, but if she broke it and ate it you have a problem. Some people de-beak their egg eating chickens, which I think is cruel but sometimes necessary. The most important thing is to make sure you collect the eggs ASAP to avoid the curiosity to eat them, and it may help to put a porcelain egg in there for her to try to peck at. She'll realize she can't break it and hopefully give up pecking/eating at eggs. If she is eating her eggs and the other hen sees her doing it you may end up with 2 egg eaters, since they are very impressionable and will bow under peer pressure. (LOL) Seriously, if chicken 1 sees chicken 2 egg eating, chicken 1 will probably end up eating eggs, too. Good luck!

 

[bulldog-girl]

My goodness. I will have to create a public service announcement to be played on a loop in their coop on the "evils of egg eating".

I have 30 chicks on order. I cant have 32 chickens eating all the eggs. Yikes!!

I could also make her wear a sign that says "egg eater"

 

[cjeanean]

I think the sign should do it, and the embarassment in front of her friends. You may also explain to her that she won't ever be on the top of the pecking order if she has such a nasty habit. I wonder if the lady that sold them to you knew that she'd given u egg eaters??? Hmmm.....I wouldn't be happy, if that's the case. Let us know what happens, and I would observe them very carefully to make sure they aren't indeed eating the eggs, then if they are all I can say is good luck. I've heard that it's VERY difficult to break an egg eater. Collect eggs asap, I've pretty much figured out that my hens lay sometime between 10am and 1pm (one lays at 11am on the dot, the others lay sometime after that) so once you get an idea of when they lay make it a point to collect as soon as you can. You may have to separate them to keep one from teaching the other to eat eggs.

 

[Acre of Blessings]

lol

 

[shaylee]

You can also make or buy a nestbox that has a little slide so the eggs go down to a collection area. I wouldnt just assume she is eating them, give her a chance and a couple of days to find out. She might not have been given adequate calcium in her last home, make sure she has plenty available. I bought one egg eater, she stopped after a couple of days with a good supply of calcium, plenty of room to roam, and some TLC. The egg also culd have cracked inside her during the move and just broke once it was laid. There are a few reasons it could have broken. I have a chicken that stands up and shoots the egg out, lol. I got a couple of cracked ones that hit the wall slightly behind her.

Good luck!!!

 

[earthy_chicks]

hey bulldog girl!
I'm the previous owner of the RIR in question. She never displayed this behavior previously even with five or six eggs in the nest box all day. I had pine shavings in the nestbox and she did get oyster shell supplement/ org. layer crumble. I'm guessing that this is due to stress? I'm not sure.

 

[Heather J]

I'm concerned about this as well because I've found three eaten eggs over the past couple of weeks. I have no idea which of my seven hens is doing the eating and I can't sit out in the coop for three hours until I catch her. *sigh* I suppose it could even by my rooster, but I've never seen him in the nest at all. I'd be happy to try creating a shoot for the eggs to go into when they are laid, but I'm not sure my carpentry skill go that far. lol

 

[cjeanean]

Yeah, stress could definately do it....glad to hear you aren't one of those ppl who would sell egg eaters to unsuspecting chicken folk!!! LOL!!! I know of a lot of ppl who would do that, and it's nice to know there are a few out there who wouldn't....how old is the hen??? I don't have any personal experience with egg eaters, mind you, but the BYC/internet search feature has been my best friend LOL!

 

[can you hear me now?]

I had to put roller boxes in my coop. I have a WHite leghorn that pecked hers due to the stess and got a taste for them that way. She doesn't always eat em but I want all of the eggs I can get from her. Sometimes she will lay two of em a day.