My Hens Are Cannabalizing Their Eggs - Why?

[moderndayhippy]

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Wow! Thanks so much for the advice! They HAVE been molting, and it HAS been high heat, so that is certainly a possibility. I did notice another thin (no shell, just the soft sack) egg that was broken on top of the nesting box yesterday morning. We've only gotten a few of those, but I'm wondering if they need even more protein than what they're getting now. They have a good mix (I honestly don't calculate it out) of the Layena, egg shell, and grit. I just mix it all together and put in it their feeder. With them getting the clover each day too, that may be detracting from their protein intake. The next time we go shopping I'll have to get some of the kitty food to use as a treat. Are you sure it won't hurt them? (Don't I sound like the over protective parent? LOL)

 

[ellen232]

I am having a problem with one of our chickens eating eggs. We have a hen sitting on 3 eggs and the next day there was only one egg. We can't figure out which one it is.

 

[dragonlair]

I thought that hot peppers/sauce had no effect on chickens because they don't have the receptors for the hot chemical?

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Ya, my girls would love a hot sauce filled egg. I can't let them in the garden tell the hot peppers are above jumping height. They ate most of my DH's hot bird peppers last year. Not a happy man.

No, kitten or cat food will help them through a molt. But this is in addition to their normal food. It is for during the molt only. I give it to mine as an extra treat when they are molting in late summer especially during their heavy molt.

I don't mix my grit or oyster shell, though I know some do. I have a large trough in their run that always has oyster shell in it so they take what they need. Its oyster shell it doen't matter if it gets wet. I go through 50# a year for 16-20 Hens and last year I rationed it cause no one had the 50# bags for a long time. If you are getting any shell less eggs (membrane eggs) then they need extra calcium. I also keep a dish of Oyster shell mixed with dried and smashed egg shell by their favorite tree. So they can have some when they free range in the afternoon.

They eat a lot of calcium, they only take 3 weeks off from egg laying during their end of summer molt so they need a lot of calcium. I don't think feed has nearly enough calcium in it. It also depends on your soil composition. What kind of gravel, sand they can use for grit. We evidently don't have diddly calcium in ours and its mostly fine sand, so I buy them crushed granite for the walkways for their grit.

Give them more oyster shell, free choice and see what happens. It won't take long, you'll notice thicker shells. If that doesn't work you may have a hen that doesn't metabalize oyster shell properly, that is why I mix crushed egg shell. They can process that almost immediately and evidently easily.

 

[lengel]

As my hens age, the older ones lay eggs that have fairly thin shells and these eggs tend to get eaten pretty quickly. I don't worry about it but that's because the purpose of my birds is to eat ticks and mosquitoes because these insects carry disease in our area and it's a pretty bad situation. They do this jobs well. We get 6-12 intact eggs a day from them and don't bother about the egg eating that does go on.

 

[ellen232]

We caught the chicken that is eating the eggs. We put her in another cage for the time being but with our set-up it's going to be difficult to keep her from the rest of the group.

I will try the suggestion from everyone, thank-you.

 

[lferris]

When people suggest kitty food for egg eating hens, do they mean canned kitty food or kitty kibble?

 

[zazouse]

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Are you sure the hen is eating the eggs cause my chickens eat the entire egg not just the inside, but rats will do this.

Also finding eggs outside the box could be a sign of rats.

 

[zazouse]

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Same here, i got eggs" pastyoureyes"