Hen eats raw eggs

[fabfarm]

Hi everyone my hen pandi eats the other girls eggs I thought at first she was just doing it beacause she doesn't like them. They were raised at different ages.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

i have never run up on this but i have always heard, once an egg eater, always.its nothing personal, they just like them and at one point she got a taste and wont give it up. alot of people cull these hens if they want to keep their eggs. there may be a way to stop them, i dont know it.

 

[fabfarm]

Well i figureded it probably not stop but I don't want her to get sick from the eggs

 

[Granny Hatchet]

there good for them, lots of protein.

 

[hope4rainbow]

My daughter dropped one one day and quite a few chickens happily ate the inside.Our little D'uccle girl had yolk over her head, past the back of her comb, lol

 

[Granny Hatchet]

My daughter dropped one one day and quite a few chickens happily ate the inside.Our little D'uccle girl had yolk over her head, past the back of her comb, lol

do they continue to try to eat them?

 

[lizanne]

do they continue to try to eat them?

Yes, and sometimes they can teach the other girls to eat them too. Some people try things like egg shaped rocks in the nest. They also blow out an egg, and fill it with mustard and put it back in the nesting box. She breaks open the mustard egg, and it's not what she is expecting.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Yes, and sometimes they can teach the other girls to eat them too. Some people try things like egg shaped rocks in the nest. They also blow out an egg, and fill it with mustard and put it back in the nesting box. She breaks open the mustard egg, and it's not what she is expecting.

mustard? lets just go all the way and use their own poo !! i know they dont like that. now i just want to go feed my chickens some mustard to see how they act.hahahaha

 

[Granny Hatchet]

mustard? lets just go all the way and use their own poo !! i know they dont like that. now i just want to go feed my chickens some mustard to see how they act.hahahaha

well, on second though, im not blowing on that!

 

[jjackson-7]

Oh yes, egg eaters. I have personally tried many different methods to break my rhode islands from eating eggs, and it all started with one hen. I figured it was coincidence the first few days,you know....... maybe she was breaking them while laying an egg in the same box and just ate the broken egg after the fact. Then I tried to blame it on lack of calcium, or a number of other dietary needs. Soon more and more eggs were being eaten as she taught the others. Then I saw a rooster doing it too and was delusionally convinced that he had started the whole issue. Seperating him did nothing but PO him and stress out the girls. Soon I had to face facts and try to do something, and tried every hairbrained trick in the book. Lock them in them in the dark for a few days, keep the lights on 24/7 for a few days, lock them out of the coop all together for a few days, check eggs every five bleedin' minutes so they don't have the opportunity to eat them. Paint the eggs with all sorts of different concoctions, including their own poo, so they taste gross. Put rocks and golf balls in their nests so it hurts them when they try to peck the hard object. Nada. So we slowly started culling the ones that were caught in the act, but soon we only had a few brids we were unsure of left, and not enough chickens to even provide eggs for us, let alone our egg customers. We were too scared to introduce more chickens fearing they too would be taught "the glorious bounty that is eggs." We culled everything, started over, and now I make sure I collect eggs often and if I ever catch anyone with yolk on their beak again.............................

Take my advice, nip it in the bud when it is only one chicken, or at least seperate her so she doesn't teach your whole flock.