My chicken is eating her eggs and is acting like she wants to kill all living things!!!!!!!!

[GracieN]

I need help!
So my chicken (a rhode island red) had been inside her house all day so I went in there and she was sitting in a nesting box with an egg that had no top or insides. She had the egg all over her face, so she had eaten the entire egg. Then I stuck my hand in the house and she started going crazy and acting like she was going to eat me also if I toched her. And she is normally so sweet! I shut the lid and after a few minutes she quieted down but if I open it its the same thing over again. Is she sick or going mad or what?????

Thanks for your help!!!!!

 

[dawg53]

I need help!
So my chicken (a rhode island red) had been inside her house all day so I went in there and she was sitting in a nesting box with an egg that had no top or insides. She had the egg all over her face, so she had eaten the entire egg. Then I stuck my hand in the house and she started going crazy and acting like she was going to eat me also if I toched her. And she is normally so sweet! I shut the lid and after a few minutes she quieted down but if I open it its the same thing over again. Is she sick or going mad or what?????

Thanks for your help!!!!!

By your description, it sounds like your hen is broody. The egg you saw may have been a malformed egg laid by another hen or your RIR hen herself. It's common for hens to eat a busted open egg.

 

[realsis]

she might be searching for calcium. here is a article on egg eating If the egg eating behavior has already begun, it is important that most of the above suggestions have been implemented.  In addition, you can try these added measures to try and treat the problem:

1.  If you know which chicken is guilty, then remove them from the flock immediately.  Others will learn the behavior from them.  If they continue to eat eggs, try rehoming them, sometimes a change of scenery can stop a bad habit.
2.  According to the University of Florida, filling a dish with milk and allowing chickens to drink it decreased the egg eating behavior.
3.  The University of Florida also suggests beating an egg into a creamy consistency, stir in 2 teaspoons of black pepper and pour it on the coop floor.  The taste will stop hens from eating their eggs.
4.  Create slanted nesting boxes that allow freshly laid eggs to roll down into a secret collection area that the chickens cannot access.
5.  Try adding golf balls to the nesting boxes.
6.  Clean up every bit of the broken egg.  Leave no traces behind.  Change out any bedding that has egg on it.
7.  Try filling an empty egg shell with mustard.  The chickens will not enjoy the taste.  Interestingly, hot sauce does not work on birds, they can't taste it.
8.  Try pinless peepers.
9.  Try adding distractions, such as a hanging ball of cabbage.
10.  Be sure you actually have a hen eating your eggs, it is not uncommon in certain areas for snakes to enter chicken coops and swallow whole eggs. I hope these suggestions help.

 

[GracieN]

Thank you!