My chickens are eating laid eggs!

[christineavatar]

My birds have taken it upon themselves to eat the laid eggs. I collect the eggs every evening and was averaging about eleven. That suddenly dropped to four or five. When we cleaned the coup out (do it about once a week) one hen was attacking the already laid eggs. She would break the shell and eat our the yolk. We had to do battle with are to keep her out of the way while we cleaned. We noticed that the other hens would take the broken shells and eat the whites out of them. What the heck caused this? How do you stop this?

 

[50-45-1]

Causes can be thin shelled eggs broken by accident then birds develop the taste for them. Boredom and close confinement also contibute. Once started its sometimes hard to stop.
Try giving them things to do like grass clippings to scratch thru, a flock block and more room if needed.
Darken the nest boxes if they are to exposed. They cant eat what they cant see.
Gather eggs several times a day if possible.
Pinless peepers if all else fails.
Good luck!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Leghorns?

 

[jeepgirl13]

Maybe one got broken one day while they were laying and she learned those weird things that come out her bottom have a tasty treat inside them. I've never had an issue with egg eating hens, but I've heard increasing the protein in their feed and making sure you've got free choice oyster shell can help improve things. Along with placing ceramic eggs or golfballs in the nest box and frequently collecting eggs

 

[aart]

My birds have taken it upon themselves to eat the laid eggs. I collect the eggs every evening and was averaging about eleven. That suddenly dropped to four or five. When we cleaned the coup out (do it about once a week) one hen was attacking the already laid eggs. She would break the shell and eat our the yolk. We had to do battle with are to keep her out of the way while we cleaned. We noticed that the other hens would take the broken shells and eat the whites out of them. What the heck caused this? How do you stop this?

Is it a continuation of this issue?:

I have twenty-five hens (Americanas) and every day I get one or two eggs with a feeble shell. If you pick then up they are hard but they will break if you squeeze them too hard. It seems that I need to add something to the feed I give them. Any suggestions?

Also knowing more about your flock(ages/genders) and their housing would help immensely.
Dimensions and pics of coop and run please.
Oh and what all and how exactly are you feeding?