home-wrecker! why is she doing it?

[spish]

so all 6 of my Turkey hens were on nests (of between 12 - 16 eggs each) but each day i noticed eggs were missing..thinking they were accidently being broken or so. until yesterday i caught one of my buff Turkey hens pinch an egg out of her 'neighbours' nest by punching a hole in it, and run out of the Turkey house with it..out into the field where she pecked it totally open eating the growing embryo and everything

i sat and watched a while and she did it again. so im pretty sure its her (although she has her own nest)


why would she do this??

 

[HEChicken]

It sounds like she has discovered that eggs are yummy and she will continue to do this as long as she has access. Frankly, there is only one place on my property for an egg eater and that is on the dinner table. If you can't see doing that, I would segregate her so that she doesn't have access to the other turkey's eggs. She will be able to eat them all before any get a chance to hatch, at that rate.

 

[R2elk]

It sounds like she has discovered that eggs are yummy and she will continue to do this as long as she has access. Frankly, there is only one place on my property for an egg eater and that is on the dinner table. If you can't see doing that, I would segregate her so that she doesn't have access to the other turkey's eggs. She will be able to eat them all before any get a chance to hatch, at that rate.

X2

I don't know of any other way to cure an egg eater other than to keep all eggs picked up as soon as they are laid. That doesn't cure the egg eater but does save the eggs.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Uh oh. Not good. You definitely have an egg eater. And I thought only my birds would do a nail/hammer maneuver on my eggs. :/

 

[chicks and hens2]

I read somewhere about spicing the eggs with tabbasco sauce or something by putting it in the broken egg, or injecting it into the egg, but maybe that only works for chickens????

 

[HEChicken]

I read somewhere about spicing the eggs with tabbasco sauce or something by putting it in the broken egg, or injecting it into the egg, but maybe that only works for chickens????

Chickens don't have the ability to detect heat in foods - i.e. spicy heat - so this would only work if they don't like the flavor of tabasco. Since Tabasco is pepper based, I think, and chickens LOVE peppers, I can't see this working. Dish soap maybe, but not Tabasco.