How to catch an egg eater ??

[CountryRoosterUSA]

Every day the last couple of weeks when I go to collect the eggs in the nest box.
I'm finding 1 or 2 that have a hole about the size of a quarter in the end.
No yoke or anything in the shell, but a mess in the shavings.
I'm thinking I have an EGG EATER.
I collect the eggs in the morning and check again in the afternoon.

ANY IDEAS how to find out which girl it is ?
I put golf balls in the nest boxs, but thats not working.

 

[faykokoWV]

put each girl in isolation for a few days at a time. When the egg eating stops you know you have the culprit in the isolation pen

 

[no1hilbily]

game camera

 

[dewey]

With there being a hole that size in one end, could it possibly be an egg eating predator instead of the chicken(s)? There are egg predators with that exact M.O.

Chickens will often break up or break apart the shells and eat that, too, or part of it.

 

[KenLamWV]

I was told this and confirmed it with one of my girls. Check each of their beaks and you hopefully will find dried yolk on the outside of it. At least you will know who's eating them. Also put some wooden eggs in your nest boxes. I had removed my wooden eggs when I thought the girls knew where to lay. After a while, I started noticing the remnants of egg white in my nesting material. I put the wooden eggs back in the boxes and it seems to have helped for me at least. I read a thread a few days ago regarding the mustard egg and there were not many positive comments on its use.

 

[elsa88]

Collect the eggs early so she won't eat 'em

 

[kmbeethesun]

I read- never had to try thank goodness! Take one of the eggs you collect and blow all the insides out. You poke a hole on the top and bottom of egg, blow the yolk throw the holes. Then fill the egg up with mustard. Chickens naturally don't lke the taste of mustard, harmless to them too! The yellow looks lke the yolk and the chicken learns that they do not lke what is in the egg when you place the mustard filled egg back in the roost for the egg picker to taste.

 

[Erica]

Hi CountryRoosterUSA,

To find which chicken is the egg eater, take a boiled egg (shell on) and roll it into the pen along the ground. The egg eater (or eaters — the behaviour is very quickly spread through the entire flock) will go for the egg and try to peck it.

I just had to deal with an egg eater today — these days I'm a lot more short tempered with vices like that, but in the past I've gone through the rigmarole of mustard eggs, paint eggs, chilli eggs (none of which works long term), roll nests (much better), golf balls (nope), ceramic eggs (not really) and putting birds in a plain pen with no nestboxes and no floor litter for 2 weeks (*does* work if the pen floor is completely open, and can be permanent!).

No matter how early you get the eggs you won't be fast enough to catch them before a determined egg eater has a go. Also, in my view if it was happening at night I'd say it could be rats, and by daylight it could still be crows etc... But more commonly these predators start the behaviour by showing hens that eggs are yummy, and then the hens get caught up in the fun. Softer than usual eggshells also attract the behaviour. But the bottom line is, if eggs are being broken during the daytime in the nest, then at least one of the hens is probably involved.

Sorry if this is doubling up on what you know -- just sharing what I learned from 2 years of egg eaters... Drove me absolutely nuts (and did so again today).

best wishes
Erica

Edited to add: the culprit today was my new rooster... Not a bird I've retrained. But very irritating.

 

[wingsofglory]

I had egg eaters. Really difficult problem, so much I am building rollaway nestboxes. I did a search on this BYC's search button of "Opa's rollaway boxes" simple to make out of plywood. The egg rolls down out of sight. The two threads have pictures and diagrams and everything - one for a two nest setup, the other for a six or nine-nest setup.

Opa has worked out all the details to make it work without breaking the egg - he has a simple foam bumper, etc.

If one hens does it, she teaches all the other hens. Mine cleaned each other's faces so I never saw any yolk on their faces.