I saw one of my chickens eating its egg... What do I do?

[Firestar2003]

Just right know I saw one of my chickens eating its egg so I picked up the chicken and placed her somewhere else but she keeps coming back. And some of the other chickens are eating the eggs I don't know what to do please help!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Let it go. You don't want that egg now anyway! Lol

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Occasionally one of my hens will accidentally roll an egg out of the nesting box and when it cracks open all the hens have an excited bust egg party and gobble it down. If it happens only once in a while its not a problem. If its happening all the time it can become a problem. Just collect eggs more frequently during the day so they don't get the opportunity.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Almost any chicken will eat an opened egg. That's normal. The problem comes when a chicken learns to open an egg to eat it. That's when you have an egg eater.

I don't know how that egg was opened. if it was an accident don't freak about it, but try to keep them from getting broken. That can lead to egg-eating.

If one of the chickens opened it on purpose, you have a problem that needs to be dealt with. The only ways I know for sure work are to either permanently remove that chicken or build a roll-away nest box so the chicken can't get to the eggs after they are laid.

Other people may have other solutions but I can't say from experience whether they work or not.

 

[Firestar2003]

Ok thanks guys, I don't know if it was on purpose are not but I will keep an eye on them.
If anyone else has ideas please tell me, I need as much knowledge as I can get!

 

[subhanalah]

Do you have them on layer feed? If so they are telling you they need more nutrition. The layer formulas are made to give them just enough nutrition to produce eggs for 2 years then be culled (factory eggs) so layer is not really intended as a long term maintenance plan. Well, it may be intended for it, but it's not well suited.

I would switch to a flock raiser or all flock and offer crushed oyster she'll on the side. You can also give them mashed up hard boiled eggs, make sure it's unrecognizable as an egg.

Put golf balls or ceramic fake eggs in the nests, when they try to break them, it'll give them a beak-ache, and hopefully put a stop to the behavior once the maintenance issues are worked out
You can also hollow out an egg and fill it with mustard, can't speak as to how well this works lol.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I can vouch for the golf ball method. But you will need to make sure that you collect eggs promptly, the longer the lay around , the greater the temptation.

 

[Firestar2003]

Ok thanks guys

 

[Firestar2003]

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[subhanalah]

There are several other threads about egg eating right now. The seasonal strain is starting to affect the hens since they've been laying for a while now.