flock ate their first egg

[newCHICKNmama]

My 4 year old son has been in charge of collecting the eggs, a job that he cherishes. We had tried to introduce some younger chickens into the flock, but that hasn't gone well. They are getting heckled so much, they just cower in the coop, taking over the nest boxes. So the big girls are starting to lay on the deep-littered floor of the coop. My son went to get an egg this afternoon and somehow dropped it in the run (I think he was goofing off w/ egg in hand), and the girls ate it! OH NO!!!! There are 11 big chickens and there is not one sign of the broken egg. They ate it all. I do NOT want this to become a habit, so I was wondering if anyone has any advice, tips, info on how to nip this in the bud before it becomes a habit? Thanks so much.

 

[Erica]

Hi NewCHIKNmama,

all chickens will go for a smashed egg... It's nothing to worry about this time.

If you put plastic/ceramic eggs in the nestboxes they might learn more quickly where they should lay. It's true that eggs laid in the open are more vulnerable to being smashed.

Other ways of making sure it doesn't become a habit are to crush any eggshells you feed back to the birds, to keep up protein etc so the birds don't become deficient, to supply enough nestboxes (about one per four layers) so they're not jamming themselves in, to keep up calcium so eggshells stay hard, and last but not least, to stop predators getting into the eggs, especially the day.

Any time I've had egg-eaters it's been started by daytime predators. (Incidentally if there's a big rat population the smaller rats will come out in the day.)

Best of luck with it,
Erica

 

[carrlr]

Here's hoping they don't realize that the yummy meal they just had came from inside one of those hard roundish things. Sometimes they don't make the connection and you'll be alright. That's why I try not to leave eggs in the nest boxes too long, don't want the curiousity to get to them. Best wishes.

 

[galanie]

Mine get raw Quail eggs but I break them first myself. And oddly, they don't even realize they can break the quail eggs to get to the "yummy chewy center" inside. But I'd caution others not to make a habit of this with chicken eggs, like crrlr said.

 

[ChickiKat]

I am struggline with egg eaters and I am not sure who is doing it. Any good ways to identify the perpetrator??

 

[newCHICKNmama]

Whew! I sure hope it doesn't become a problem! I'm selling the younger pullets later this week and that'll clear up the nestboxes, since they've been taking refuge from the big girls in there. Hopefully the big girls will start laying in the nestboxes again with the younger ones gone. And I get to make a little bit of money And I'm crossing my fingers it's just a one time deal with the egg eating!

Thanks so much ya'll!