introduction with a question

[Therapy4me]

Hi there to all you out there who find great enjoyment in raising chickens! I have read several of your posts and enjoy the great information that they all contain, THANK YOU!
My chickens started eating their eggs last fall and I was not able to be out there much to see if it is one hen or more, or why they were eating them. The weather is warming again, and I want eggs!!! Anyone have some great advice besides eating the hens and starting over? How often do you start over with chicks?
Maybe I need boxes that drop the eggs out of reach of the hens once it is laid. Any one have some good advice about building laying boxes that do such a thing?
I want more than farm raised eggs, I want to eat chicken that I know what is in them! I am trying to be as organic as I can and after turning to this site several times in the past, I am here now reaching out for some great advice specific to my problem.
Keep asking your great questions and I will try to share all that I have learned.
Thank you in advance for your kindness and advice.

 

[TwoCrows]

I started to have this problem a while back when one of my hens started laying shell less eggs. I was able to stop this behavior for the most part, but once they taste eggs, it is difficult to stop them.

First things, always collect eggs as soon as possible. Keep some fake eggs in the boxes at all times. Not golf balls as they know these are not real. But get yourself some clay or porcelain eggs and leave one in each box. I found that my hens did rounds in the boxes all day long pecking at eggs to see if they could break into them. But when I started keeping the fake ones in there, and the birds made their egg pecking rounds, after a while they figured that the eggs had some how become impenetrable. Of course you have to collect the real ones as much as possible. Next...add curtains. Chickens are less likely to mess with eggs in a dark box and nor can they see them while going past the boxes. They will have to go thru curtains to check every egg. And a hen that lays an egg is less likely to mess with her egg in the dark as well. At least this is how my flock tends to think. Take some material and hang it over the boxes from top to the bottom, covering the lip of the nest box at the bottom. Tack the material to the top. Then starting at the bottom, cut slits up from the bottom of the material up to the top of the box so that these strips hang down. You can pull one up at first so they can figure out how to get into the box. Once they are comfortable going thru this slit, let that strip back down so they can only peek thru the material to get in. I have not had a single egg eating episode since. I hope this suggestion works for you.

Good luck with your flock and welcome to BYC!

 

[Therapy4me]

I am a sewer so material I have. Thank you for the quick helps. I will try it. Enjoy!

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

You could try placing ceramic eggs in the nest boxes and frequently removing the real eggs - that way the hens peck at the hard ceramic, and that can deter them.

Opa has some excellent plans for a roll out nest box, you could check out his profile.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! You've gotten some good advice above, it is a hard habit to break once started. Here is the link to Opa's really nice rollout nest boxes 1muttsfan mentioned https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/287684/new-rollout-nest-design-picture-heavy-edited-1-21

 

[drumstick diva]

2 crows has a novel idea- I would recommend trying that first.

 

[gander007]