Hen is pecking her eggs - Please help

[happymom99]

Hello. I have 7 hens and one of them just started laying about two weeks ago and she is pecking the end of the egg. Of the 7 hens, 6 are laying and I just figured out yesterday who is doing this. She did it immediately after she layed (laid???) it and it is always the pointy end of the egg. I am worried that she might learn to eat the eggs and then teach the others to eat them too. Right now she just pecks a hole in the end of it and leaves it.

Is there anything I can do to stop this?

Thank you,
CJ

 

[cat1994]

Um sorry but the only thing I can think of is get rid of her maybe someone else will have an idea

 

[allpeepedout]

I had some of this going on with my new layers and a few eggs eaten but they stopped on their own within 2 weeks as they got used to laying. You might want to increase calcium or add a different source of calcium to make sure the shells don't break during this phase of experimentation with the eggs, so egg eating doesn't start, or if you are home, collect them immediately. I read somewhere that it is normal for hens to peck at their eggs. If it breaks, the egg is probably not viable for hatching anyway, so it's mother nature's plan to feed the nutrition back to the hen to try again. That makes sense to me. Chickens seem to test everything for edibility by pecking. I was very concerned about egg-eating but it seems to have resolved itself nicely.

 

[ThinkingChickens]

I do agree that it may resolve itself. One of my newer egg layers also did this twice. Then, she stopped on her own. You can try a golf ball in the nest and collect the eggs faster if at all possible.

 

[craven]

You can try coating an egg with vicks vapor rub, they will quickly learn "eggs taste bad".