First egg eater--and I may have caused it...

[BellaLulaFarm]

Our ladies have been producing well, but all of a sudden today one of the eggs was pecked open. Not eaten, from what I could see, yolk was still intact, but pecked and shell eaten. They get plenty of calcium...but after Easter I gave them some of the left over hard boiled eggs after hearing that it wouldn't cause egg eating. I broke the hardboiled eggs up pretty well, but maybe it was enough to convince them that eggs are yummy? Oh no....

 

[Opa]

Giving them hard boiled eggs will NOT create egg eaters, however, NEVER give them egg shell unless it is baked and broken into small pieces.

 

[LittleMamaBigPapa]

Taking a. Shot in the dark here, but maybe you could put some wooden or ceramic eggs (Cracker Barrel) on the floor of the coop to confuse them? Maybe after unsuccessfully pecking the fakes, they give up???

 

[Chickengal505]

Crap.... I've heard of egg eaters but i never thought it was true

... My hens get the smallest egg in the nest boxes daily...

 

[Opa]

egg eaters are why I use rollout nest boxes. It's the best way to prevent it.

 

[cluckcluck42]

A family friend smashes eggs for their chickens once in awhile, raw. Says they have never had a problem with the hens eating them on their own. I've had my own hens eat a few broken eggs that were smushed during laying and no egg eaters as of yet. I really dont think a hardboiled egg caused this, I feed mine eggs all the time and crush up their shell to feed back to them. I would buy a fake egg from the feed store and put it in the nest so next time someone eats an egg they get a nasty surprise.

 

[BellaLulaFarm]

Quote:
Well, that may have done it--I didn't take the eggshells off the hardboiled egg pieces. I thought about it, but figured, "they're pink and blue, so it won't matter"!
We already have a ceramic egg in each egg box--I'm thinking maybe I put 2 or 3 in that particular box, plus take the laid eggs out regularly instead of waiting till the end of the day. Hope hope hope it works...