VlkStinu
Songster
Hi everyone! I've read up about hens pecking on eggs and eating them, but I wanted to ask if you potentially have any personal tips and experiences with this problem.
I have a hen that probably a few weeks back, maybe more, learned to peck on eggs and eat them. I haven't discovered this until recently. I was always finding crushed eggs in the nests and I thought it's a soft-shelled egg (or a normal egg that has been laid later during the day and stayed in the coop overnight - my hens are sleeping in the nests, so it made sense to me they would likely crush the egg) that just has been crushed under the weight of the hen. But after going directly into the coop after seeing laying hens emerging from it, I found healthy and strong eggs, which made me realize that problem is elsewhere. I started checking the nests more often and during coop cleaning, I picked out a clear pattern - when a hen comes laying inside, the hen (the egg eater
) comes in to check every now and then, waiting for the laying process to be done so she can go right for the egg. It is just this one hen and she apparently got very good at it - I was waiting for a hen to finish laying, went inside my house for a minute, not more, came back, saw the laying hen outside, went to the nests and there she was, already well into the egg which was pecked open.
I was thinking before that I just have to be quicker than her, but this seems like an impossible task now considering she is really waiting for the hen to finish laying. I would have to wait there too and that's just within my time capabilities.
Now I don't really mind them eating the eggs, I get the crushed egg, put it outside for other hens to eat and they get important nutritions in this challenging winter season (it's their first winter outside, they are rescued ex-battery hens). But if this would continue later on during spring and summer and she would systematically peck on all eggs, I would start to object.
So is this something that she will drop later on, maybe once she finishes her moult, spring starts and she will start laying herself? Or is it a habit that will persist? They have plenty of space, they are fed with all nutrients, etc. - reasons given in the article about this problem don't really seem to be the issue in this case. I think she just found out she can do it (maybe through pecking on soft-shelled eggs that two of my hens lay due to salpingitis), so why wouldn't she? As I mentioned, I don't mind it now, I wouldn't really expect them to lay anyway these winter days, but it would be a shame to lose all the eggs later on in the spring and summer due to her egg addiction.
I have a hen that probably a few weeks back, maybe more, learned to peck on eggs and eat them. I haven't discovered this until recently. I was always finding crushed eggs in the nests and I thought it's a soft-shelled egg (or a normal egg that has been laid later during the day and stayed in the coop overnight - my hens are sleeping in the nests, so it made sense to me they would likely crush the egg) that just has been crushed under the weight of the hen. But after going directly into the coop after seeing laying hens emerging from it, I found healthy and strong eggs, which made me realize that problem is elsewhere. I started checking the nests more often and during coop cleaning, I picked out a clear pattern - when a hen comes laying inside, the hen (the egg eater
) comes in to check every now and then, waiting for the laying process to be done so she can go right for the egg. It is just this one hen and she apparently got very good at it - I was waiting for a hen to finish laying, went inside my house for a minute, not more, came back, saw the laying hen outside, went to the nests and there she was, already well into the egg which was pecked open.I was thinking before that I just have to be quicker than her, but this seems like an impossible task now considering she is really waiting for the hen to finish laying. I would have to wait there too and that's just within my time capabilities.
Now I don't really mind them eating the eggs, I get the crushed egg, put it outside for other hens to eat and they get important nutritions in this challenging winter season (it's their first winter outside, they are rescued ex-battery hens). But if this would continue later on during spring and summer and she would systematically peck on all eggs, I would start to object.
So is this something that she will drop later on, maybe once she finishes her moult, spring starts and she will start laying herself? Or is it a habit that will persist? They have plenty of space, they are fed with all nutrients, etc. - reasons given in the article about this problem don't really seem to be the issue in this case. I think she just found out she can do it (maybe through pecking on soft-shelled eggs that two of my hens lay due to salpingitis), so why wouldn't she? As I mentioned, I don't mind it now, I wouldn't really expect them to lay anyway these winter days, but it would be a shame to lose all the eggs later on in the spring and summer due to her egg addiction.
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Looks like it would fit two... at max. Maybe four if they were bantams.
