Help.. I think I have an Egg Eater.....

[ShelbyCoral]

Wow, I have egg eaters to but not this bad... They only eat an egg when its cracked on the ground, they leave the nesting box alone. Also I feed my chickens leftover eggs every morning. They love it! I put allot of goodies in there for my girls. I put oats, baby spinach, peas, bacon bits and other stuff my girls love!

Goodluck!

 

[ShelbyCoral]

I hope our production reds do not become a problem. We are adding 30 new layers to our flock of 30 1 and 2 year old hens. 8 of them are production reds from ideal. They will end up in the trap bait bin or stew pot fast if they become a problem. I hope not. Hoping to get a little bit of their blood into our flock.

we have had the occasional egg eating. If I drop an egg in our coop the hens will devour it instantly. So, any eggs that crack or break will be eaten fast. If we feed oyster shells,scratch and 16% layer and most importantly, keep the nest boxes comfortably full of bedding we have no issues. If we neglect the bedding one day, we will go from 0 broken/eaten eggs to up to 5. If they are always having to peck around under themselves to be comfortable, lots of eggs will get broken.

Thats another thing! Bedding!!!!

 

[winteree]

Wow, I have egg eaters to but not this bad... They only eat an egg when its cracked on the ground, they leave the nesting box alone. Also I feed my chickens leftover eggs every morning. They love it! I put allot of goodies in there for my girls. I put oats, baby spinach, peas, bacon bits and other stuff my girls love!

Goodluck!

yeah i know breaking one or two hens of egg eating is hard enough i hope she can stop them or else i see alot of chicken soup in her future

 

[winteree]

Over the past view days I have noticed egg production severely dropping. Today, I got 1 egg from 16 consistent layers! I do not want to have to cull my whole flock and I need to solve the problem before others hens catch on and eat the eggs too. I have searched the internet and I can't find anything on this. Please Help!

when i say golf balls work wonders put the golf balls in the nest boxs or get ceramic eggs i can send you some if your feed store doesn't have any.

 

[Jajika]

I had "egg eaters" for a while as well. I did two things suggested here: I fill an egg with wax and Tobasco sauce. I also bough porcelain eggs that look like real eggs. Between the hot/bad tasting one and the fake eggs, they stopped..finally.

Also, I have a bowl of oyster shell always fresh and full. From my research, it is better to have oyster shell freely available rather than mixed in with the food. Too much calcium can be a problem as too little.

I also give my girls a big can of dog food once a month during the height of egg laying season. The extra protein is good for them.

See if this helps.

 

[thechickenflock]

Bad News..... it has nothing to do with the new coop. I went into the coop today and saw one of my Rhode Island Reds eating an egg, she had cracked four and eaten them. Surprisingly, the other hens were not eating them they were just staring at her. I blew an egg and filled it with spicy horse radish mustard, and THEY LIKED IT. What do I do? I don't want the other hens o learn to eat them but I don't know if I can bring myself to killing her. Also, I closed all windows to the coop today and it was very dark in there it didn't seem to work. UUUGGGHHHHH!

Next step, Golf Balls. Put a few in every nesting box and around where you egg eating hen eats the eggs.

 

[ShelbyCoral]

My girls hate oyster Shells.... I still have no idea why to this day.

 

[winteree]

My girls hate oyster Shells.... I still have no idea why to this day.

really? wow i never heard of that very strange

 

[ranger7]

I doubt all your hens but one are eating all the eggs. You most likely have an unwanted coop guest. Like a critter or bird of some kind. Crows will get eggs. If you have the capability put up a camera of some kind. Hope you figure it out before you decide to get rid of your awesome laying hens.

 

[AKchicken1]

A game camera set on time lapse would work.