HELP -- Egg Eating Chicken!!!!!

[kiaya611]

I have 44 hens and 2 roosters and somewhere in the bunch, I have a chicken (hopefully only one) that has decided that it is a good idea to eat eggs. I feed them layer crumble and supplement that with oyster shells (allot which they gobble down like candy) to give them plenty of calcium. I collect the eggs at least 3 times a day. I don't know what else I can do to stop this chicken from eating my eggs. I have heard that once they start, they won't stop. If that is true, my worry is trying to figure out which chicken it is and remove it before it teaches more chickens to eat eggs.

Please give me any advise you may have.

Thank you,

 

[okiechick57]

Um, sorry I cant help........mine got ahold of one I dropped , and I had heard once they try them ,they will eat their own..so far none of them do.just the ones I drop, it will be hard if you have so many and only one does it.may have to rehome that one ! Let us know what happens.

 

[chickflick]

It's sure gonna be difficult to pinpoint who's doing it.... can you set up a video camera to see who's doing it? If you do find out who the culprit, you can separate her and put a fake egg in her nest and after a few times of trying to break it, she'll give up. I would, of course, leave her for a few days with the fake egg. Good Luck! A farmer actually gave me a chicken that he said ate the eggs....she never did with me. But, she was malnourished when I got her and once she got all the treats from me she had no need to eat the eggs!

Good Luck and let us know what happens!

 

[Bubba]

Sounds like chicken soup is in your future to me! Yes I know thank you, my psychic powers are awesome!

Bubba

 

[eggzettera]

Doesn't the expression ""egg on their face" come to mind here? I have read thats how you identify the culprit.....

 

[playswithfowl]

Kiaya611-

I had a hen that started eating eggs. I have found that if you drain an egg of its contents, and then fill it with mustard and pepper theyll never eat an egg again. What kind of chickens are they?
AJ

 

[SandraChick]

All hope is not lost!

put golfballs in the nests

Golfballs in particular give a bouncing effect on their heads and give their little brains a jolt. That's some great negative feedback!

Keep taking away the real eggs as soon as possible so the culprit doesn't keep getting "rewarded".

Other things you can do is

-add some protein to the diet for a couple weeks (some meat treats or canned cat food).
-get rollaway nests. The eggs roll out after the chicken leaves the nest so there aren't any eggs for the culprit to eat!

GOOD LUCK
Sandra