hens eatingtheir own eggs--

[G'Hen]

I would love some help here -- all of a sudden the girls have started eatingtheir own eggs. They began to have weak shelled eggs, just when I was grateful that his hadn't been a problem - and so I think that this is how they discovered that there's food in there.
Now, how to break the cycle?

 

[chicmom]

Hello,

Try putting some fake eggs in the nest. They'll peck those and get nothing.....Also, collect those eggs as often as possible. Another thing that might help, is making your nesting area very dim. Hanging a curtain in front of the nesting boxes can help with that.

Some people even go to the extreme of blowing out an egg, and putting hot mustard inside of it, so when the hens break that egg, they get a very unpleasant taste.

Good luck to you,
Sharon

 

[G'Hen]

Thanks so much chicmom! I knew I had read about mustard at some point in the care of hens!!
Here I go.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I usually cull the ones who start that, its a nasty habit to break.

 

[Gypsi]

so far mine don't have the habit, I clean up the mess by pitching it out of the nesting box, then they eat the broken egg. but if I don't get their shells firmer, I could have issues down the road.

Gypsi

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Mine will eat a broken egg or a shell-less egg, but not one with a good hard shell, so it doesn't have to develop into a habit. Since you indicated that you are getting some soft shelled eggs, perhaps some extra calcium on the side would be helpful?

There was also a thread on here a while back that surmised the hens were eating the eggs for want of Omega (I forget which number) and found that feeding BOSS was helpful as it also contained that form of Omega whatever.

Edited to say: