Multiple egg eaters, flock at 50% production

[Celeste Villegas]

I have a heavy heart today because it’s become apparent that some naughty hens have influenced the entire flock. I have 12 hens that are all a year old. They were producing great until I hired a caretaker for a few weeks while I took my kids to see family over around break. Suddenly production went down, and then it dawned on me that a few hen were eating eggs. I think they were deprived of an early meal with eggs left in boxes. I tried all the tricks and my delay in dealing with it by culling the offenders has caused the behavior to spread to the rest of the birds. If I butcher them, I think my already skinny sons will become vegetarians. We raised them from chicks and are rather attached to some of them, so I it is rather sad for us. I have 10 pullets that are about 5-7 weeks old, so I think there is hope to start over quickly. Should I sell them for someone else to butcher. What would you charge? Or shall I butcher the hens when the kids are at summer camp and not tell them? It would be my first time. Can I make some kind of set up that makes the eggs roll away after they’re laid into a protected box? (A few chickens lay in the run and it’s a free for all so that may not work either)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Look into roll out nest boxes

 

[Aapomp831]

Get some ceramic eggs - collect the real ones as quickly as you can and leave the ceramic ones in the nest. They will peck at them and hopefully lose interest once nothing happens.

 

[Celeste Villegas]

Yes, I’ve done that with golf balls. I have been collecting religiously and I still can’t stop the behavior. I have some that lay in the run and the rest go crazy in a feeding frenzy.

 

[Celeste Villegas]

I guess I also worried that the chicks will start eating them too as they observe the older chickens. And they’re not even producing yet!!!

 

[Aapomp831]

Yes, I’ve done that with golf balls. I have been collecting religiously and I still can’t stop the behavior. I have some that lay in the run and the rest go crazy in a feeding frenzy.

What do you feed them? Sometimes chickens start eating eggs because they are proteins deficient. Also, are they pecking and cracking perfectly good eggs, or are they laying softer shelled eggs that are easy to eat (maybe that’s how it started)? Do they also have a cushioned area to lay?

 

[SusanMc]

My hens eat eat eggs occasionally. Usually one breaks, and they eat it. A while back it started happening again, and I wondered what was making them do it, I decided to clean everything out of the nesting boxes, and what was in the bottom was a build up of egg and bedding. I cleaned everything with a hose, and scrubbed it off replaced with ample sweet grass hay, and they seem to stop. I also gathered the eggs religiously for a few days, and praised them.

 

[Celeste Villegas]

My hens eat eat eggs occasionally. Usually one breaks, and they eat it. A while back it started happening again, and I wondered what was making them do it, I decided to clean everything out of the nesting boxes, and what was in the bottom was a build up of egg and bedding. I cleaned everything with a hose, and scrubbed it off replaced with ample sweet grass hay, and they seem to stop. I also gathered the eggs religiously for a few days, and praised them.

My hens eat eat eggs occasionally. Usually one breaks, and they eat it. A while back it started happening again, and I wondered what was making them do it, I decided to clean everything out of the nesting boxes, and what was in the bottom was a build up of egg and bedding. I cleaned everything with a hose, and scrubbed it off replaced with ample sweet grass hay, and they seem to stop. I also gathered the eggs religiously for a few days, and praised them.

My hens eat eat eggs occasionally. Usually one breaks, and they eat it. A while back it started happening again, and I wondered what was making them do it, I decided to clean everything out of the nesting boxes, and what was in the bottom was a build up of egg and bedding. I cleaned everything with a hose, and scrubbed it off replaced with ample sweet grass hay, and they seem to stop. I also gathered the eggs religiously for a few days, and praised them.

How many hens do you have? Do they ever lay outside of their boxes? How often is occasionally? And what percentage should I tolerate? On days that I check regularly I get half!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I also recommend roll out nests since the issue is with more than one hen.

I was personally confronted with this issue a few months ago.
Mine was a single offender though. I did manage to break her by locking her out of the coop early in the day, gathering eggs exceedingly often, and being diligent in responding when a hen sounded harassed.
It took a long time to break her.

If I had multiples doing it I would have switched to roll out nests.

There are several very good videos on building them on youtube.

 

[GoatGirl123]

Make sure that the nesting boxes are dark, this will hide eggs from “naughty” hens, place fake eggs and collect the real eggs as often as possible, make sure to provide oyster shells, in case the chickens need calcium, the last thing you can do is to give treats and toys to your chickens, ex: lettuce hanging in reach of hens.