Help FOUND! Thanks for the great ideas!!

[WhetzelMomma]

Ooh! I like the hinge idea. Thanks!! At the very least, I've got a few things to try now.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

The other thing that it could be is they are trying to push the egg under them or turn it around. I see you have straw in the nest box and it may make it harder for the hen to manuever it around how they want it. I know mine like that egg right underneath them until they decide to get out.

If the eggs aren't actually eaten then I don't think the bird is trying to destroy them. Are you finding any yolk on any eggs? If so then they are eating them.

I have great luck with the ceramic eggs, but you have to be very diligent about collecting eggs several times a day so that the only thing that they ever get to peck is a hard ceramic egg. They will learn that it gets them nothing and usually stop. If not you will have to find out who is doing it and cull before it teaches the rest to do it too.

 

[WhetzelMomma]

@rustyswoman, I have found yolk on a couple eggs not all of them. The straw makes sense... because last night I added straw, and found MORE eggs with holes today. Do you have any suggestions for other bedding to nest in? They really seem to like the straw. I'll have to see what I can come up with in the egg dept.

 

[savingdogs]

I had this problem for awhile too. I have Buff Orpingtons who were the culprits, but they were pecking at the eggs to eat them. It happened before they started laying their own eggs. We watched them carefully and saw it was mainly a certain one. We were all set to cull her when we tried an idea from on here, we put golf balls in the nests and started collecting really frequently and put a curtain up so that she didn't see the eggs.
She was pecking at them and would sometimes peck them open and consume the whole thing, leaving nothing.

The golf balls cured her however, since they are always there she probably gets nothing most of the time and the chickens sure seem to think they are eggs, they always like to lay their eggs where the golf balls are.
The golf balls were also free, they were old used ones from my mom, who golfs.
I would not leave the eggs in there so long, I'd collect them as frequently as possible if I were you. That seemed to help our problem here.

 

[Crusaderwithgat]

Hi. If you don't want to buy a bunch of those ceramic eggs you could make your own from polymer clay. Polymer clay can be found all over the net and at local hobby craft stores. You will be able to stretch a little a long way by making a form to wrap the clay around and not using a big solid "hunk" of clay. Just google it. Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[WhetzelMomma]

I had been collecting once a day, but I'm going to try the ledges, collecting more often and possibly new bedding in the nests.

Edited to correct my stupid spelling/grammar. lol

 

[WhetzelMomma]

Quote:
Thanks, Jim! That's kind of the idea I was thinking about... Good to know it's been tried!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Yes, ceramic eggs are nice but I have used army camo plastic easter eggs too! They didn't know or care LOL I use pine shavings in my nest boxes. It makes it easy for them to move everything around.

One way an old timer taught me to find out who was eating the eggs was this... look for the most shiny, glossy healthiest bird in the coop and that is your egg eater.

I tried it, saw it, isolated it and the egg eating stopped, along with the plastic egg tactics. You have to collect often so they don't find the real eggs until their brains forget about eating them.

Feed them really well, maybe even scramble some eggs and put it in their feed. If they are full, they will be less likely to hunt for food in the form of eggs.

I had a whole coop of suspect birds a few years ago and was able to break the cycle in just a few weeks of diligence. Some told me I would have to cull the whole flock, but I didn't.

 

[WhetzelMomma]

Thanks for the fast reply about what to change to for bedding... I'm only worried that they'll kick the crud out of the shavings... that's what they did when they used to lay on the floor... lol

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Mine do kick the shaving out some, but I have a 4 inch lip on my boxes and enough stays in to cushion the egg.