Help extreme egg eating!

[twentynine]

Need some ideas, for prevention, and correction.

Been raising chickens for 20+ years and never have I had anything like this happen. I have 15 hens of prime laying age, I have been gathering 10 - 15 eggs a day for a few months. Tuesday I got 4, Wednesday I got 4, Thursday 2, Friday 1. Evidence of the hens eating the eggs is obvious, egg white, bits of shell, and yolk stains. Put a game camera in the coop and it shows a hen entering the laying box, as soon as she raises to lay another hen jumps in and gets the egg. Several different hens are showing this behavior.
I feed Nutrena laying pellets, I keep oyster shell in front of them 24/7 and I mix a few handfulls directly with the feed when I fill the feeder.
In my opinion the chickens may be lacking in "green" feeds, grass leafy vegetables and such.
What is the surprise is Monday they were normal Tuesday they are eating eggs like theirs no tomorrow.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I saw a poster a while back that suggested feeding BOSS regularly as they might be lacking the Omega whatever. Apparently, it helped in his case. I'm wondering if extra protein might help as well.
Others have suggested blowing out eggs and filling them with mustard or putting golf balls in the nest, as they are hard, gathering eggs as soon as they are laid etc.
Good luck.

PS - I don't have ANYWHERE near your years of experience, and am just passing on what I've read here...

 

[Judy]

Here's an article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/six-tips-on-breaking-your-egg-eater

Sometimes this just happens, presumably for some reason the flock learns from each other they can be cracked open and taste good. Old timers used to cull the flock -- but rollaway nests should work as well, if you are so inclined. Hopefully one of the less dramatic methods in the article will work for you.

 

[twentynine]

Okay!

I read the article, and I started action right away.

Blew out an egg, replaced the contents with mustard. Put it in the nest, presto, it took about 10 seconds for a hen to grab it, poke a hole in it and get a snoot full of mustard. Made it through about 1/3 of the hens before they left it alone.

Plan for tomorrow, they'll get another mustard egg. I will continue to give them mustard eggs, until all the hens refuse to look at'em. Secondary to this I have to consider they why? Lack of protein? They will get a supplement of high protein game bird feed. Also I might try the black oil sunflower seeds.

Also I clean out all the nest boxes, replaced all the straw with nice clean hay.

Thanks for the help and I will keep ya'll posted.

 

[so lucky]

I'm glad to hear the mustard remedy works! I thought I had an egg eater, but it is just the thin shelled eggs from one of my girls being broken. (they have oyster shells free choice). So the other day I made some foam cushions for the nest boxes, and that did the trick! I cut cushions out of an old foam mattress pad and covered them with an old plastic table cloth. Two seams, shove the foam in, and duck tape the last side. Easy peasy. The chickens seem to dig them, really.

 

[twentynine]

Update.

Saturday afternoon, after the first mustard egg treatment I gathered 10 eggs. Figured, aha, ain't so hard to outsmart a chicken. Better to left that thught unsaid. Sunday I gathered 2 eggs with much evidence of egg eating. Decided I am going to have to shift cure and prevention into a higher gear.

I blew the content out of 4 eggs, I will place one in the nest today several hours apart. This is an attempt to keep a mustard egg in the nest all the time.

Next I am going to get a sack of 30% protien game bird feed, this is to supplement their diet, just in case the egg eating is due to a protien defecientcy.

Longterm, truthfully it doesn't look good, I believe once this habit is learned, it may never be unlearned.

 

[Judy]

It is hard to unlearn but it has been done. Long term you may want to plan on rollaway nests. Depending on your setup, maybe you could modify the present ones?

 

[twentynine]

Monday report;

Gathered a total of 11 eggs, just about a normal day, however I did discover some evidence of atleast one egg being eaten.

I started them on the 30% protien supplement, at the cost of that one sack of feed, $25, I won't be trying this remedy longterm.

Mustard eggs in all the nest boxes, this morning, Tuesday. I will report tomorrow, today's results.

 

[twentynine]

Tuesday---
Gathered 12 eggs today. Mustard eggs untouched, no sign of any other eggs being eaten.

Supplementing regular laying pellets with about 1- 1/2 pounds of 30% protein game bird feed. Given twice daily 1/2 in morning 1/2 in evening. Divided between 15 hens and 2 roosters. I mIx the supplement with 1/2 cup cracked corn and 1 teaspoon of calcium lactate.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Sounds like you are on the road to a cure! Thank you for keeping us updated on the progress.