Help Please, Hens Eating Eggs

[NEWEGG]

:/we Aer New At This, First Time With Chickens, Our New Girls Are Just Starting To Lay And They Are Eating The Eggs If We Are Not Right There To Get Them. They Are Also Removing All Straw From The Boxes And Fighting Over One Box. We Have Fake Eggs In All Boxes, Yet I Have Gone Out To Find 4 Chickens In One 12x12x12 Box, And The Other Boxes All Empty. The Favorite Box Changes From Day To Day. Any Designs Out There For Boxes That Allow The Egg To Roll Out?? Help Is Really Needed. Thanks.

 

[Emzyyy]

My chickens also eat the eggs. Maybe instead of straw use padding or something that you wash off with a hose so its soft and hard for the chickens to break the eggs. I don't have any other advice. Someone else can give you much better advice.

 

[chookchick]

I am dealing with the same thing right now. I let their oystershell run out for a few days, and they are transitioning to layer food. Yesterday I got 5 eggs, from 6 pullets (pretty sure the 6th was eaten..) so things are improving slowly. What has helped is--make sure they have oystershell available at ALL times, even if they are on layer food, switch from grower to layer food, pad the boxes with lots of straw, keep a close eye on those eggs and grab anything as fast as you can. I am also giving them high protein "treats" such as washed cottage cheese. The just-laying pullets are prone to soft shells, so things should improve. Also put a dark cloth over the nest entrance, so they can't see the eggs.

 

[Imp]

NEWEGG,

Egg eating can be a tough problem. It can be broken, usually. Can you rearrange the coop to shake things up a little.I switched to 5 gal; buckets as nests. Collect the eggs frequently. You said you have fake eggs, maybe more. Some others have suggested curtains in front of the nests to make it darker inthe nests so the hens cannot see the eggs as well. And/or covers over the nests. Some people have said they've had successs with filling blown out eggs with mustard or horseradish. And there are roll away nests available.

Imp

 

[NEWEGG]

THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUGGESTIONS. WE WILL TRY PUTTING CLOTH OVER NESTING BOXES, AND ARE LOOKING INTO PLANS FOR ROLL OUT BOXES. I HAVE THEM ON LAYERS FEED, BUT NO OYSTER SHELLS, I'LL PICK THAT UP ASAP!! THANKS AGAIN!!