Help! i have an egg eating chicken

[cherryc]

one of my chickens has started to eat its eggs. It has stopped laying in the nest box and is laying them in the dirt where it is difficult for me to reach then she is eating them. Is there another way to solve this apart from getting rid of her.

 

[JennsPeeps]

I'd isolate her in a kennel with a nesting box. See if you can retrain her to lay in the box.

The reason for islation is to prevent her from teaching the others her new "trick" and to prevent her from eating the others' eggs.

Unfortunately, there pay not be much you can do to stop this behavior. Do a search on BYC for "egg eater" or "egg eating" and you'll find other threads with more potential solutions.

 

[Eastins Eggs]

Collect eggs more often. My experience is once an egg eater always an egg eater!

 

[92caddy]

Ive read where when they start to eat eggs, they are lacking proteins, so you may want to try to increase that. Ive also heard that they are bored, so its something for them to do. Isolating her may work also. What I do is keep fake eggs in the nest, wooden and ceramic ones, what I have noticed that when they peck at them hard eggs a few times, then they leave the real eggs alone. That had worked for me..........good luck.........

 

[Imp]

I beat mine by changing everything up ASAP. New nest buckets, golf balls, ping pong balls, rearranging the coop, frequently checking the coop anything I could think of to change their behavior. Others here have suggested filling blown out eggs with mustard or hot sauce. I think you're trying to beat a habit, not a desire to eat eggs. Could also try upping the protein in their diet. Good Luck!
Imp/Russ

Ditto to 92caddy

 

[cherryc]

I collect the eggs every day today i didint make down there until lunch time and there was just a small bit of shell remaining on the ground. it was only a couple of weeks ago we thought she must of been egg bound so she got treated with vasaline then she produced again haha she must of been traumatised if she had been eating them

 

[cherryc]

will try the fake eggs and the mustard eggs if i can do it sounds like a delicate operation, they get to free range usually every day for a couple of hours in the afternoon they always come and eat the dogs food and get scraps as our dog isint a big eater.
what kinds of food can you give them that is high in protein?

 

[92caddy]

dog and cat food are real good for upping the proteins and with them being left out, they shouldnt be bored, so Im guessing its a habit, which can be hard to breck. good luck.........

 

[Imp]

high protein:
Cat food
Meat
Eggs
Yogurt
Cheese
Cooked Beans
Remember all things in moderation
I also used to sprinkle powdered milk on their food.
Imp
Blowing out eggs is easy- just poke a hole in both ends with something like a darning needle, stir the needle around to break up the yolk, then wrap your lips around one end and blow like crazy. The scrambled egg will leak out the other end. Fill with a flavor or cake decorating syringe. I think if they are using a nest then put anything in it. I had some huge marble eggs from the doller store and they will sit on them. I think the "secret" is to mess them up, their habits at least.
Imp

 

[A.J.'s]

Chickens taste buds do not notice hot sauce or hot pepper. That would do no good.
If you know who she is, then a good pot of "chicken and dumplins" would cure this problem quickly and permanently unless she has taught her sisters the trick.
I dont th ink it has a t hing to do with nutrition, chickens eat whatever is in front of t hem that they recognize as food, after pecking at it and finding something good to eat, they will continue to do it.
They do not usually like onions and mine will not eat cabbage. But a good fresh egg? who could turn it down?