Help, chickens eating eggs!

[Chkntender]

Hello, don’t post a lot, mostly just come on and read, but I need advise. At least one, possibly more of my chickens have just started eating eggs. I chased her down and took it from her and cleaned all the other eggs out of the nest. I think it’s the first one that has been eaten. But I have found a few that look as if they had been pecked at, and were cracked, but not open. Is this fixable, or do I need to do something with the chicken(s) in question? She’s one of my favorites, super sweet and cuddly. I am going to try and check the nest 3-4 times a day and keep the eggs out of there. Will that be enough?

 

[SamuelMcF]

If it was just one egg, it could easily have been broken by accident and then she picked it up. That happens. The problem is when they purposely break them to eat. If that is the case you will need to get rid of her or at minimum separate her from the others so she doesn't teach them bad habits. There are some people that say you can fill eggs with mustard or other tricks to break the habit but I personally have never had luck with that. At my place all egg layers get culled sadly.

I would just keep an eye on them and if she does it again you will have to decide if it is worth keeping her or not.

 

[pozees2]

Higher protein feed or high protein snacks has solved this problem for me in the past.

 

[MurrayAP]

Separate the egg eater from the rest for awhile and hopefully when you reintroduce her it stops. The others seeing her peck open the eggs will encourage them to do it too. Make sure to remove any shells from the pen.

 

[Chkntender]

If it was just one egg, it could easily have been broken by accident and then she picked it up. That happens. The problem is when they purposely break them to eat. If that is the case you will need to get rid of her or at minimum separate her from the others so she doesn't teach them bad habits. There are some people that say you can fill eggs with mustard or other tricks to break the habit but I personally have never had luck with that. At my place all egg layers get culled sadly.

I would just keep an eye on them and if she does it again you will have to decide if it is worth keeping her or not.

Thank you, I am going to collect often and just watch her and see if it happens again.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Adding more fake eggs (to frustrate them since they can't crack them) or roll away nest boxes could possibly help, if active egg eating is the issue.

 

[aart]

I chased her down and took it from her

Was the shell good and hard...or thin and weak?
Fake eggs in the nests and frequent gathering will help, especially if it just started.

 

[Stokley]

Higher protein feed or high protein snacks has solved this problem for me in the past.

I've got the same egg eating problem and it's getting worse. I have not been able to identify whose doing it. Any advice on that? I'm using Dumor Layer feed (16%). What feed and protein snacks did you use to solve the problem? Thanks.

 

[pozees2]

I've got the same egg eating problem and it's getting worse. I have not been able to identify whose doing it. Any advice on that? I'm using Dumor Layer feed (16%). What feed and protein snacks did you use to solve the problem? Thanks.

I rotate between 18% flock raiser and 22% meat bird starter grower. For high protein snacks you can cook eggs and feed them back, or get some mealworms and feed them as treats.

 

[Stokley]

I rotate between 18% flock raiser and 22% meat bird starter grower. For high protein snacks you can cook eggs and feed them back, or get some mealworms and feed them as treats.

Thanks pozees2, I already give them meal worms every day and they range free several hours each day so you'd think they have enough protein. However, I will buy some higher content feed as I have chicks coming anyway and have bought some ceramic eggs. I've been checking for eggs every couple of hours but that's getting to be a burden. If I could spot the culprit I'd remove her but haven't nailed that down yet and realize that others are learning bad behavior. Hopefully I don't have to cull all of them.