Frozen Eggs and Egg Eating

[rachelsflock]

Hi out there. I'm having way sub-freezing temps out here and frequently my eggs freeze and bust before I get out there and all my birds are just living in the coop during the day with the door open. I'm afraid the busting eggs are teaching my hens to eat eggs! I've already culled one older, non laying hen that has been cracking eggs and was caught in the nest box, covered in past frozen egg, eating a new one. Now I'm getting signs of another egg cracker-egg white and some yolk all over the eggs, nesting chips saturated. How do I stop this madness? Covering the boxes and making them dark does nothing. They just roll them out of the box onto the floor. It's only a matter of time before we have another day so cold that the hens eating the eggs cracks an egg and it freezes to her face again, so I'll know who's doing it, but even my young pullets are starting to bombard me to try and get eggs when I collect them. What can I do? I'm going to be doing mustard filled eggs soon, but I feel like I have two interdependent problems-I have at least one hen (or maybe rooster, who knows) who knows how to bust open eggs to get food and is showing the rest, and the eggs are freezing, splitting, and showing the girls what's inside. They eat the frozen ones too, pecking the eggsickles apart until they get the yolk.

Are they all a loss and I'm going to have to do a re-hatch and start over?

I've been trying to collect often through the day, 3 or 4 times (or sometimes more), but the eggs freeze in half an hour or less most days, and I just can't keep up!

Piggy little hens trying to peck the eggs out of your hands as you pull them out of the box is no fun, I tell you!

 

[Welshies]

I would try to look at the source of the problem.
Egg eating can be due to broken eggs (but frozen eggs shouldn't cause this- unless they thaw after cracking), lack of protein, or boredom.
What do you feed them?
How often do you collect eggs? I'd start collecting 2 or 3 times a day and seperate the culprits, or cull them. Watch the others closely afterwards.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What are you feeding? Often egg eating is from a deficiency, either protein or calcium. Feeding a higher protein ration can help prevent it. I had problems when I fed a layer ration but haven't had any since switching to an All Flock ration with a separate bowl of oyster shells.

You can also keep fake ceramic eggs in the nestboxes to help make pecking unsuccessful. Collecting eggs more often or installing roll away nests can help too.

 

[sourland]

Other than roll away nest boxes or multiple daily collections, I do not know of a solution to this problem. I have experienced this problem during excessive cold like everyone is dealing with this year.

 

[rachelsflock]

Oh good, I'm not crazy. They get free choice oyster shell. They're on layer pellet. I've done Flock Raiser in the fall and early winter and it just made some of them morbidly obese so I had to stop or I was going to lose some. I switched them to layena for a while, then these problems started up as the weather changed. I wondered if it was because the food was not fresh enough so I went back to Dumor, which is always very fresh and good smelling at my TSC while anything Purina is often several months old and not (cheap area, lol?). Nothing changed.

Did it eventually just go away for you @sourland ? Or did you have to deal with it somehow?

 

[sourland]

I just collected eggs multiple times during the day. There are advantages to being old and retired.

 

[Welshies]

Oh good, I'm not crazy. They get free choice oyster shell. They're on layer pellet. I've done Flock Raiser in the fall and early winter and it just made some of them morbidly obese so I had to stop or I was going to lose some. I switched them to layena for a while, then these problems started up as the weather changed. I wondered if it was because the food was not fresh enough so I went back to Dumor, which is always very fresh and good smelling at my TSC while anything Purina is often several months old and not (cheap area, lol?). Nothing changed.

Did it eventually just go away for you @sourland ? Or did you have to deal with it somehow?

I would advise against layer feed. Lay feed fed to non laying birds can cause delayed development, liver failure, calcium overdose even in laying birds.
Switch to an 18-22% all flock, maintenance, or grower feed. Free choice grit and calcium.
Keep treats small and fed in moderation- they should not make up more than 10% of a diet (meat, veggies, and scratch are all treats).
Collecting eggs multiple times a day like sourland did can help. But egg eating is nearly impossible to cure or prevent as it often spreads throughout a flock like wildfire.

 

[Then I Will]

I am new to the frozen north. I actually had my Chicken first aid kit out there all over Christmas-- frozen for weeks. I didn't even realize my peroxide, Vaseline, and everything else was frozen block hard solid until the other day.
The concept of frozen eggs just threw my mind for a loop too.... Sighs... what can one do?? Besides collect multiple times a day?

 

[rachelsflock]

Sorry @Welshies , I guess I wasn't clear. Most of my chickens are laying and only one or two aren't, hence my problem. Those particular non-layers are still very over-weight from few months in the fall and early winter I switched to all flock. i know this because I butchered one of them with egg on her face. The rest need layer pellet or we start getting shelless eggs. They do get grit and oyster shell. I did not previously consider grit part of their diet though. It's just always there, and I scoop the spilled stuff out of the coop when I muck out. Diet-wise they should be covered. I do not do treats when it is so cold my toes freeze and the skin on my hand freezes to the gate latch every morning when I go out without gloves-too cold. So basically they rarely ever get any apple cores, celery ends, bread crusts et c. now. No corn, no fatty boss, no oats, no wheat. Just the freshest layer pellet I can get.

These egg eaters have even broken all three of my broodies when they try to start egg hording. It's kind of sad.

Looks like I'm going to be doing even more trips to the coop then. I haven't given up on the mustard egg, but I think I have to wait until it is warm enough not to freeze the mustard before it's pecked open . Thanks @sourland . Time to get tough, I guess.

 

[Welshies]

Sorry @Welshies , I guess I wasn't clear. Most of my chickens are laying and only one or two aren't, hence my problem. Those particular non-layers are still very over-weight from few months in the fall and early winter I switched to all flock. i know this because I butchered one of them with egg on her face. The rest need layer pellet or we start getting shelless eggs. They do get grit and oyster shell. I did not previously consider grit part of their diet though. It's just always there, and I scoop the spilled stuff out of the coop when I muck out. Diet-wise they should be covered. I do not do treats when it is so cold my toes freeze and the skin on my hand freezes to the gate latch every morning when I go out without gloves-too cold. So basically they rarely ever get any apple cores, celery ends, bread crusts et c. now. No corn, no fatty boss, no oats, no wheat. Just the freshest layer pellet I can get.

These egg eaters have even broken all three of my broodies when they try to start egg hording. It's kind of sad.

Looks like I'm going to be doing even more trips to the coop then. I haven't given up on the mustard egg, but I think I have to wait until it is warm enough not to freeze the mustard before it's pecked open . Thanks @sourland . Time to get tough, I guess.

It's been cold here as well. -52°F was our record so far.
I suggest you switch feeds. Try a grower feed. Your girls will initially have thin shells, but they will learn to eat the oystershell.