Hens eating their eggs??

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<3ChickenForever

<3ChickenForever

Fire Is Catching
8 Years
Feb 20, 2011
10,910
28
271
WI
My hens have been eating their eggs during the harsh winter and we think it's because they dont have enough calcuim? Lately we bought some food to help them with that and it seems to be working. ANY ADVICE?

THANKS!
 
What kind of feed are they getting and are you feeding (free choice) anything like oyster shell calcium?

BTW
welcome-byc.gif
from Ohio
 
What are you feeding them, mash, crumbles, pellets, your own mix? Is the feed free choice or do you limit their supply?
Are you collecting 2-3 times a day? Harsh winter could eggs be freezing and breaking? I collect 2-3 times or more when really cold.
How old are they? Young chickens, (pullets), sometimes lay a really soft shelled egg and may eat it if it breaks.
How high up are the nest boxes? they should be high enough the other birds have to get up into the nest box to see what is in it.
You might also have just one hen that is the culprit. Can you watch them a see if one is doing all the egg eating?
What breed are they? I don't know a lot about all the breeds, but this might be an issue with certain breed chickens.
 
I think they're eating them because the egg brakes when they lay it (soft shell) and the oyster seems to be working. The egg-eating has subsided, but there are still maybe one or two eating the eggs. Sometimes I catch them eating their eggs and take them off their nest to through the egg away. And the nest boxes are high up, enough.
 
Pullets will lay a soft shelled egg and older hens will lay thin shelled eggs. The older hens diet is usually, in my experience, the problem. I get thin shelled eggs when I get hens that do not eat the laying pellets enough. This is usually the result of them stuffing themselves on corn or scratch. Those are fine in moderation, but not as a steady diet. Even with the laying feed (pellets) I allow them free choice, I give them oyster shell free choice. It seems to last a long time, but the shells will almost be so hard they do not break easy when I try to crack them. Then once in a while I'll get an egg that cracks when it is laid. When this happens, I cut them all back on scratch, which is really intended for treats not as a laying feed. I'm taking care of my DIL's hens right now and she was feeding her hens only scratch and corn. At first I had some cracked eggs, but now, on my feeding method, their shells are much harder, with no more problems of cracking when laid. If the hens are totally on free range and there is actually grass and bugs out there for them, they do the best with little to no problems like this. But, it is winter here and not much for them to eat, so they do need a complete feed to supplement their diet. I feed mine year round, as I don't free range mine.
 
Thanks for the advice! It's very snowy here! And most of my hens are about 1 year old almost and some are about 2-4 years old. And don't you have to have bedding in the boxes?
 
Last edited:
<3ChickenForever :

Thanks for the advice! It's very snowy here! And most of my hens are about 1 year old almost and some are about 2-4 years old. And don't you have to have bedding in the boxes?

I use grass clippings I save in the summer, let it dry, put in old feed sacks and store it in the barn. I've also used wood shavings like I use for raising chicks on and straw I get from the farm field when the wheat straw is taken off. I have a little trouble with the hens scratching the nest box bedding out of the middle of box when they settle into it, but with diet restricting the treats the shells are hard enough they drop and don't break.​
 

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