Hen is eating other chickens eggs. How do I stop her?!

[Skyleen13]

I went to rollaway nesting boxes to cure this. Had to take other boxes out to get them to use the new ones

She was harassing any hen in the nesting boxes. Was grabbing the eggs as they were laid. I had changed up the nesting boxes & tried dummy eggs to try & persuade her to stop eating eggs. It didn’t work. She would ignore us throwing worms into the run in favor of going after the eggs.

 

[aart]

She was harassing any hen in the nesting boxes. Was grabbing the eggs as they were laid.

Had one like that, might have been spurred by a chronic softshell layer.
Both went into the freezer.

 

[Skyleen13]

Had one like that, might have been spurred by a chronic softshell layer.
Both went into the freezer.

None of the eggs were thin or soft shelled. The eggs had nice hard solid shells. I don’t know how it started but once it did I couldn’t get it to stop.

 

[Elaina Melito]

Dang it. Is there nothing I can do?

I have one to I collect my eggs early and have fake eggs to replace them with, she is starting to look a little cross eyed but no egg eating

 

[tdstanley43]

Another thing that works is to draw their attention away. You can get a fake realistic egg and put a large red dot on it, and her attention will be drawn to that egg. I also put fake eggs all over the chicken run, and the chickens got discouraged because they were not able to break the fake eggs. Then I put a flock block in the run and that pulled their attention away from all the eggs, real and fake.

The last thing I did was nesting box curtains. The curtains made the nests darker, so the chickens couldn't see the eggs very well. Hanging the curtains was very effective, because the chickens didn't eat their eggs anymore after they were hung up.

I did this exact same thing with the red dot eggs in the nesting boxes and the curtains on them as well and I haven't had any more problems at all.

 

[aart]

None of the eggs were thin or soft shelled. The eggs had nice hard solid shells. I don’t know how it started but once it did I couldn’t get it to stop.

My nest stalker was one of my best layers and calmest birds.
I segregated a few birds at at time one spring, for a couple days to assess who was laying what, and when she came back into flock she went neurotic. Can't remember if it was before or after that the soft shelling started. Point is, some birds are nuts, can't always determine exactly why, just that they are chaotic to flock harmony and need to go.