I have an egg eater.

[A.M. Eggs]

During the last two days I noticed that some of my eggs had been broken into and not just cracked. I figured that I had an egg eater and began examining all of my chickens beaks. Low and behold I found the culprit. She is a silver leghorn. I am not sure if she is laying yet. I have placed her in a separate area away from the coop. How can I cure her without having to cull her?

 

[LeggyLeghorn]

not sure of your set up but, separating her is a good idea. there loads of reasons why she may be breaking them. you may have to go into greater detail with your chicken situation for greater feedback.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I had an egg eater too. She was the lowest on the pecking order and hung out in the coop most of the day. 18 to 20% feed and water are in the coop.
I was finding the remains of egg a couple times a week. She ate half the eggs she laid per week.
I caught her in the act, pecking an egg from outside the nest when I lifted the cover.
From what I've read Egg eating is a hard habit to break. I culled her that weekend, before she showed others how to get to the yummy stuff inside.
Roll away nests may be an option for some. GC

 

[Chirpchirp19]

How many chickens per the space? There are a couple reasons for egg eating and one may be overcrowding. Another could be a lack of calcium...what are you feeding and do you have another source of calcium that the girls could pick at? How many times a day do you collect eggs?

I have only had one egg eater in my last year of owning chickens but I grew up with them and never had a problem. I collected eggs 3-4 times a day, even with working full time as I am constantly going out and checking food and water, especially now with the winter and freezing waters.

When I realized I had a problem I instantly began checking for eggs constantly and have just stayed in the habit since then. I have read that you could blow out a shell and fill it with mustard and place it in the nest that the eater targets.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[aart]

During the last two days I noticed that some of my eggs had been broken into and not just cracked

Was there any shell left to examine?
Was shell thin and weak?

Diet and space are the first things to look at.

 

[MurphChick]

I have at least one egg eater. Problem is: not really sure who it is! She does it at night. I check for eggs several times a day. I am only getting one egg from 8 hens. The hens are almost a year old....And they have just gone through a hard molt. They get 18% layer feed mixed with calcium, scratch and sunflower seeds. They also are out side most of the day in the garden. I have noticed that one or two hens poop as big as an egg at night, if that means anything?
I was thinking they may be a little overcrowded, so I put two more nest boxes in small coop. That is where the hens sleep and lay primarily. There is a very large coop that the small coop is inside of, and they are let out daily to the garden area. Any ideas? How do I stop them from laying at night? Is that normal?? Thinking not....If I could get them to lay in daytime, I could pick up eggs soon as they lay them....

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have at least one egg eater. Problem is: not really sure who it is! She does it at night.

I was thinking they may be a little overcrowded, so I put two more nest boxes in small coop. That is where the hens sleep and lay primarily. There is a very large coop that the small coop is inside of, and they are let out daily to the garden area. Any ideas? How do I stop them from laying at night? Is that normal?? Thinking not....If I could get them to lay in daytime, I could pick up eggs soon as they lay them....

Are they not roosting properly? While hens can lay at night it's unusual for that to be their "normal" behavior.

If there's overcrowding, that's something that needs to be addressed. Adding more nest boxes isn't the answer and may make the overcrowding worse (as I'm not sure if yours are elevated, floor level?) Not sure what your set up looks like but my guess is that's part of the problem...

 

[birdfreak1831]

No, aart, lacking space and insufficient diet are not my birds` problems.
As usually, being a weird human attracts weird critters, maybe?

I had one egg eater and she was...you guessed it...weird.
But honestly, everyone else around me is too. Both humans and non-humans.
My egg eater, a 9-year old little hen, crossed over last summer. We all miss her.
By the way, I don`t give a rat`s derriere about eggs, my chickens are wonderful companions and friends.
While eggs are a special gift, I do not demand or expect them.
It costs the hens too much in terms of their health.
I do not want anyone to die for eggs!
I rather have the birds around.


But back to the egg eater. She ate 2-3 eggs a year for the four years she lived with us. She never ate her own eggs and the few she cracked open and ate the contents of were her sister`s of the same age. She ignored the other hens`eggs plus her own the rest of the time.
I always let my hens have first pick of their eggs before I take them. Contrary to most human peoples` ideas, birds are smart and chickens are birds. Duh.
My little egg eater knew what she was doing and why. I did not.
She knew I hated eggs opened inside the coop because of the mess it made for me to clean up.
Eat them outside, for Pete`s [whoever he is] sake!
Last egg eaten was last year in June. I caught the mischievous hen INSIDE the coop where she had cracked her sister`s egg.
When she saw me approaching, she poked her lower mandible into the egg, and while watching me and looking guilty, she carried the egg in that droll way out of the coop next to the front room entrance [easy to clean up there] where she put it down and ate the contents.
Yuck! Raw eggs are NOT my thing.
The chickens eat eggs either scrambled or hard boiled most of the time.

These little chickens are fascinating and I live with them through lots of adventures.
Have learned to observe them and take most of my clues from the birds themselves.
Not knocking books and other written info. but I do think that there are times when actually learning from living with creatures, same as with humans, is the best course of action.....

 

[rosemarythyme]

By the way, I don`t give a rat`s derriere about eggs, my chickens are wonderful companions and friends.
While eggs are a special gift, I do not demand or expect them.

Unfortunately the reality is many people do keep chickens specifically for eggs, so losing eggs to an egg eater is a problem. Even though my chickens are pets first and retired layers are welcome to stay, but I do expect to get some eggs too, so an egg eater would definitely be a problem for me.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have an old hen who ate an egg- prolly her own- yesterday. I cleaned out the nest and put a ceramic egg in the nest. She pecked the ceramic egg, it didn't break and she didn't get a reward.