Hens eating their eggs

[dogzrule5]

Why have my hens suddenly begun eating their eggs? This seems almost canabalistic.

 

[conny63malies]

are they getting enough calcium and protein in their diet?

 

[dogzrule5]

I used to feed them only laying pellets but this winter switched to a mixture of laying pellets and scratch (corn and something else?)

 

[Frosty]

I give mine free choice oyster shell. They ran out for a while and got into the egg eating habit (hard to break!), but are doing better now that they have their shell back. Now I have to collect eggs more often for a while and hope to break the habit.

 

[dogzrule5]

I'll try the Oyster supplement and see if I can get the girls to change their ways. Thanks for the information!!

 

[Cetawin]

Another idea....crush egg shells into small pieces and put in their food...they eat the eggs for the calcium. Oyster shell is good too. Just give a side dish of it and let them eat as they want it.

Good luck.

 

[HenHaven]

Generally, the best diet for layers is layer ration with oyster shell available free choice. Scratch grains should be a treat only. They will eat less of the balanced layer ration when scratch is available and that can throw off their protein intake. I'd save the scratch for an occasional treat and see if that helps.