My chickens keep eating their eggs what do I do?

Hello, recently my chickens have been eating their eggs right after they lay them is their any way to prevent this from happening?
Starting from the very obvious things:

--make sure the chickens have food and water available. If they are hungry or thirsty, of course they are going to eat eggs.

--make sure they have enough calcium, because eggs with soft shells break easily and then of course the chickens eat those eggs. A dish of oyster shell is good, even if they are eating a layer feed with high calcium. You can also give them the shells of any eggs you eat.

--make sure the food is adequate. If it's less than about 18% protein, consider providing a higher-protein food.

--having fake eggs in the nestboxes sometimes helps, because the chickens can keep pecking and not get anything tasty to eat. But if the chickens are eating eggs immediately after the eggs are laid, it will probably not help in your case.

--roll away nestboxes, as several people have suggested, should solve the problem. If the eggs have soft shells that break before they can roll, you would still need to address that.

--butchering the main egg-eaters, or butchering them all and getting new chickens, is a drastic step but does also work. If the egg eating was caused by soft shells, or not enough protein, or not enough food, you need to fix that before the new chickens start eating eggs too. But if the problem was caused by one clever chicken figuring out that eggs taste good and then she showed the others, a completely new batch of chickens will solve the problem.
 
Starting from the very obvious things:

--make sure the chickens have food and water available. If they are hungry or thirsty, of course they are going to eat eggs.

--make sure they have enough calcium, because eggs with soft shells break easily and then of course the chickens eat those eggs. A dish of oyster shell is good, even if they are eating a layer feed with high calcium. You can also give them the shells of any eggs you eat.

--make sure the food is adequate. If it's less than about 18% protein, consider providing a higher-protein food.

--having fake eggs in the nestboxes sometimes helps, because the chickens can keep pecking and not get anything tasty to eat. But if the chickens are eating eggs immediately after the eggs are laid, it will probably not help in your case.

--roll away nestboxes, as several people have suggested, should solve the problem. If the eggs have soft shells that break before they can roll, you would still need to address that.

--butchering the main egg-eaters, or butchering them all and getting new chickens, is a drastic step but does also work. If the egg eating was caused by soft shells, or not enough protein, or not enough food, you need to fix that before the new chickens start eating eggs too. But if the problem was caused by one clever chicken figuring out that eggs taste good and then she showed the others, a completely new batch of chickens will solve the problem
I'll try this thank you!
 
I have only had this happen a couple of times over the 50+ years I have kept chickens. And I did what my Grandpa Shook told me as a lad, which was to give them milk a couple of days. In both instances, the problem was resolved with no apparent side effects for the chickens. Of course, he didn't know that milk wasn't good for the chickens because they can't digest it, they can get too much calcium, etc. Regardless, if I ever have any more problems, I will do the same thing again.
That's interesting. I always wonder where the "old timers" came up with their ideas.
Of course, I'm an old timer now. 🤣
 
We have had egg eaters 2x that I recall specifically. Where it is a recurring problem.

We sold several chickens recently and got rid of the egg eater. But a previous time we added many fake eggs, and collected eggs several times a day. These things helped to curtail the habit.

It is a very difficult habit to break. So, removing the egg eater might be the option you need to take.

Water: make sure their water is plain (no additives) and cool. Chickens do not like warm or hot water. If using additives, then provide them with a source of plain water in addition to the additive water. Keep it in the shade.

Feed: make sure there are at least 2 feed stations. Sometimes one higher pecking order chicken can keep other chickens away from the feed if only one feed location. If they are hungry, an egg is a good thing to eat.

Put padding in their nest boxes. Sometimes egg eating occurs bc they laid an egg (did you know they stand to lay their egg?) and when it hits the solid surface of the nest box, it can crack or break. A broken egg is investigated an may give rise to an egg eater. I’ve had chickens religiously scratch out the bedding in the nests, so I added a 2” lip and it helped keep the bedding inside the nest.
 
We have had egg eaters 2x that I recall specifically. Where it is a recurring problem.

We sold several chickens recently and got rid of the egg eater. But a previous time we added many fake eggs, and collected eggs several times a day. These things helped to curtail the habit.

It is a very difficult habit to break. So, removing the egg eater might be the option you need to take.

Water: make sure their water is plain (no additives) and cool. Chickens do not like warm or hot water. If using additives, then provide them with a source of plain water in addition to the additive water. Keep it in the shade.

Feed: make sure there are at least 2 feed stations. Sometimes one higher pecking order chicken can keep other chickens away from the feed if only one feed location. If they are hungry, an egg is a good thing to eat.

Put padding in their nest boxes. Sometimes egg eating occurs bc they laid an egg (did you know they stand to lay their egg?) and when it hits the solid surface of the nest box, it can crack or break. A broken egg is investigated an may give rise to an egg eater. I’ve had chickens religiously scratch out the bedding in the nests, so I added a 2” lip and it helped keep the bedding inside the nest.
Excellent answer!
 

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