Help ... purplexed at eaten eggs

[amcconnell]

The other day I found about 5 eggs broken and the insides eaten out of them but the shells still there. Today...we cleaned the hen house out (pressure washed it, sprayed insecticide and getting ready to dust it down and put new bedding in nest boxes). Before I could get it dusted and bedding in the nest boxes we found and egg layed in bare nest box but broken and inside eaten out. Could this be by one of my own hens. I feed them scratch and laying pellets every morning and put them out to free range and they get occasional table scraps so I know they aren't lacking food? Or could it be a rodent or smaller animal? Please help and thanks in advance for any replys!

 

[FireTigeris]

Hens usually leave no evidence, unless you catch them with egg shell on the comb or wattles.

Not sure who cracks eggs, squirrels try to carry the whole thing off- other rodents are more active at dusk and dawn...

 

[amcconnell]

Thanks for the reply. That was my thought....that if it was a hen, it would eat shell and all not just insides. But if not a hen....what would come out in broad day light and eat just the inside?????? If it is a hen....I need to stop this behavior somehow!

 

[chkn]

Sometimes the mocking birds and blue jays can be a problem but more often than not, it's one of the hens. The best thing you can do if you have weak shelled eggs, is load the hens up with some calcium. So in addition to oyster shell (which mine don't seem to eat enough of), I'll crush up some of my own calcium supplements or some tums which is loaded with calcium and mix it in a treat for them. I may hard boil some of the extra eggs, crumble them up shell and all, and put the calcium powder in there. Weak shelled eggs are pretty much fair game for hens as they instinctively don't expect it would survive an incubation period.

 

[amcconnell]

Yeah....I've just started adding oyster shell to their food. I'll try to bump up the calcium. Is there any way to deter this kind of behavior in chickens....egg eating that is?

 

[chkn]

I find mine I have to supplement with calcium from time to time. I put oyster shell in the food but I'm not sure they eat that much of it. I may mix some of that in the treat too along with the supplement.

By virtue of the fact that the shells harden up, I find my chickens will stop pecking and eating the eggs. If it's easy to break the shell, they will eat. So what I'm saying is the behavior should stop on its own with enough calcium. It's good to nip it in the butt right away though.

 

[amcconnell]

Thanks for the advice..I will up the calcium and see if that does the trick

 

[Suzierd]

Ground squirrels are getting in my run and breaking a hole in my eggs then eating the inside. They managed to get one outside but mostly eating them right in the nest box.
If you think it's a hen then try to gather them more often and break her of the habit. I bet it's a rodent.

 

[amcconnell]

Thanks....I'm checking the nest boxes very often to gather eggs. We did put some rodent killer under the hen house where the chickens can't get to it but a rodent can. I will keep my eye out for the rodents if they die to remove them asap.