my chickens keep eating their eggs

[floridamel]

Do you have any evidence that they are eating the eggs - like stickyness on the remaining eggs or anything? I wonder if there is something else going on and yours are just laying less eggs?

 

[smk2010]

No, no evidence so it could be something else. I only had one egg yesterday - so something is up...but what? We do have some large black snakes around. I wonder if one of them made it into the coop. Do black snakes eat eggs? Hmmmm...

 

[floridamel]

I haven't had snake problems, but yes, I believe they do. I was just talking to someone the other day on chat who was having problems with snakes eating their eggs. They said that they have to collect the eggs right away or the snakes get in there and get them. Hope we can both figure out our problems asap!

 

[smk2010]

Me too! I sure hope its not a snake. I like snakes but I'm almost never home so it would be hard to catch the snake. I could use one in the hay barn but not the chicken coop

I'll have to keep a VERY close eye on the coop this weekend. I sure hope it is something simple... like recovering from the heat.

 

[floridamel]

smk, we made a few discoveries last night! First, we found an opossum in our yard for the first time ever. Then, we found this morning that the chickens moved their nest. So, we think the opossum ate their eggs. This is concerning because now we have to worry about predators, but the good news is, we don't have egg eaters! Now we are working on building a run to lock them in at night so they are safe.

 

[smk2010]

Floridamel thats great about your chickens. Hopefully the predators stay away. Im still not positive on mine. On Friday I found 2 eggs and a gooy mess in one nest - so i think a chicken is eating them

I made sure I checked for eggs every couple hours over the weekend and had 5 eggs both Sat and Sun. So I'm going to start by increasing their feed, put out more shell, and am going to give them garden scraps. Hopefully that will do the job.

 

[Tikvah]

Yep, pretty much think you've gotta give em' the axe,and start over with some new ones. I also read somewhere though, that the chickens may have too much spent up energy and to place some challenging items in their coop, such as a hanging feeder, or a ball with greens inside of it, to make them jump and use up their energy.

 

[smk2010]

Tikvah - That's an interesting idea... putting items or chicken safe toys in the chicken yard. I do have 4-5 young hens who love to interact and play with myself and the dog. Maybe I'll throw in some semi frozen garden vegetables and fruit, and a ball or two for them to roll around and chase...

 

[Chemguy]

I had this problem with a group of new layers. In particular, I had one pullet that liked laying on the perch. Once she did, others would come along to see what the big round thinhg was, take a few pecks. I acted quickly, here's what I did:

1) I put a new nest box in the coop, up near the rafters where the favorite perch was located. Now, an egg appears there every day.
2) I put golf balls in the nest boxes.

Of these, I think that the golf balls did little. The new nest box seems to have been best. It's been a few months with no egg having even so much as a peck.

I thought of buiying fake eggs (craft stores sell wooden egg forms that can be painted), but then realized that golf balls would work just as well.

 

[farmgranny]

I grew up on a farm with 200 to 300 hens use for egg production. ONE- avoid giving egg shells to your hens. IF you do, bake them first, then crumble them well. Better to feed oyster shell. TWO, make certain a varment or snake is not helping themselves. THREE, keep your nesting box padded well, &/OR make a slanted floor in the nest box so the egg can roll onto a protected area.
My aunt had heavy oil cloth nailed to the back of the nest box, and the egg rolled under it, the hen couldn't see the egg, so it was safe! I noticed that when a young hen first starts laying, her egg shells are not perfect, and appear not as complete. Those are the eggs I have seen get broken when the hen gets up, then she or any other hen that see the broken egg eat it. It can become a habit quickly between the hens to eat eggs.
Also REMEMBER, shortest days are in December, the number of hours a hens eyes see daylight determines the number of eggs produced. Thus, long summer days produces many eggs, short winter days produce fewer eggs.