Mustard explosion still didn’t stop these egg eaters!!

[Duckfarmer1]

Ugh!! I have 36 laying hens and typically get between 27-32 eggs a day. Well, a few weeks ago they stated eating eggs. They are now ramping it up and I lost 6! yesterday!! . First I put oval rocks in from our landscaping..then I bought porcelain Easter eggs...then they had hollowEd out the top of one egg, so I filled it with mustard, as I’ve read on here.... we’ll, they demolished the egg!! I am beyond frustrated!! I sell the eggs to regular customers, like restaurants, and neighbors who order 4 dz at a time. Not to mention my drive by customers. I can’t afford to let this go on, I know, some have said to watch the coop all day...not possible here, I run a working farm and I am quite busy all day...no time to sit and babysit chickens...beside,wha5 would I do, cull, ten hens? I’m pretty sure it’s that big of an issue now, when I drop some goo, cleaning out the hay...daily,they are on it licity split!! Help?!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are these nests on the ground?

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

Ugh!! I have 36 laying hens and typically get between 27-32 eggs a day. Well, a few weeks ago they stated eating eggs. They are now ramping it up and I lost 6! yesterday!! . First I put oval rocks in from our landscaping..then I bought porcelain Easter eggs...then they had hollowEd out the top of one egg, so I filled it with mustard, as I’ve read on here.... we’ll, they demolished the egg!! I am beyond frustrated!! I sell the eggs to regular customers, like restaurants, and neighbors who order 4 dz at a time. Not to mention my drive by customers. I can’t afford to let this go on, I know, some have said to watch the coop all day...not possible here, I run a working farm and I am quite busy all day...no time to sit and babysit chickens...beside,wha5 would I do, cull, ten hens? I’m pretty sure it’s that big of an issue now, when I drop some goo, cleaning out the hay...daily,they are on it licity split!! Help?!View attachment 2059701View attachment 2059702

My hens enjoy eating mustard. Try siracha.

 

[sniper338]

Get the "best nest box". You need a roll away nesting box. No egg eating, no cracked eggs, no dirty eggs, theres no downside once you get them trained to use it. Ill be ordering one myself here soon.

Been there done that. They learn to eat eggs from the others, soon they all will do it. Im down to one hen and more pullets coming up... This is the route I will go. Ive had 30, 40, 50+ chickens before. Im going this route and not looking back. Been there with egg laying issues, aint going back.

Youtube " best nest box" its a galvanized community roll away nest box...

Tape up the red flaps for a week or so, can put alittle hay in it at first, thats how you train them to it. Buy the large one.

 

[aart]

Try siracha.

Birds don't have capsaicin receptors....why it works to keep rodents out of bird feeders.

 

[Acre4Me]

That’s frustrating, and something you want to stop as quickly as possible.

we had this problem. We bought A LOT of wood and ceramic eggs. Put several in each nest box. Then collected more frequently. This helped quickly. However, the biggest offender we ended up selling bc it wasn’t worth it to keep her as she was not deterred like the other girls.

roll-away nest box might be a great solution for you. We built one and it didn’t work great for us, but there are several Types/styles, so undoubtedly some work very well.
good luck.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

Birds don't have capsaicin receptors....why it works to keep rodents out of bird feeders.

That would make sense.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

Try ceramic eggs.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Why would ceramic work better than porcelain?

 

[aart]

Why would ceramic work better than porcelain?

Most the fake eggs we call 'ceramic', the ones you get at TSC,
are neither ceramic nor porcelain, they are made from some kind of hard plaster.
I know because I've cut one with a fine file out of curiosity,
they cut very easily but work just fine for fake eggs.