My time has come- I have an egg eating chicken!

[cackle]

I am so upset. I have read about it here and have considered myself lucky that ours have not eaten any of their own eggs. A couple of days ago I found one with a large hole in it and half the egg gone but there was also a snake in the henhose that day. So I tried to blame the snake. Today there was an egg on the ground with a small hole and some of the egg missing.

I guess it is time to go buy some wooden eggs and start collecting the real ones more often. If that doesn't work then I will try the mustard or hot sauce in the egg shell. But since the egg that had been eaten today was on the ground the other suggestions above might not work.

Any ideas?

 

[cassie0980]

I've heard that once a hen starts eating eggs, it's time to break out the stockpot. They can't seem to help themselves. I have a friend that had a hen doing the same thing, and they had to kill it because she wouldn't stop. Maybe some one else knows another trick to breaking this nasty habit.

 

[al6517]

So you have an egg eating chicken, you know there is no cure for that but one. it is now time for your chicken to a chicken eating Human. and that is all I have to say about that!!!.

AL

 

[Imp]

Cackle- hope this is of some help:


I had this same problem last December with new laying pullets. I was able to break them from egg eating by rearranging the coop to shake things up. Adding 5 gallon buckets as nests. Putting golf balls and stone eggs in the nests. And collecting as often as I could. It was fortunate that I was on vacation at the time. Others have suggested filling blown out eggs with mustard or horseradish. And adding more protein or calcium to their diet. Also I have heard of people adding curtains in front of the nests so the eggs weren't so visible and it is darker in the nests. Good Luck.


Imp

 

[cackle]

Quote:
We are actually adding a laying room onto the coop. So that should shake things up. One problem is that this egg was on the coop floor so she must have laid it outside of the nest. We do have gold balls in the nest boxes maybe we need to add wooden eggs but that will only work on eggs laid in the nest.

They have calcium available and a diet of organic locally bagged feed with added kelp and DE. Plus table scraps.

May have to add the curtain thing because it is going to be hard to tell which of the 14 hens is eating the eggs.

I have 4 pullets about half way to laying and 16 4 week olds. But we were hoping to have 30 layers.

 

[countrybum]

Quote:
Well do not fret, I have a baby chick eating chicken and that is the truth. So I am now in the process of getting my coop finished so I can separate my Broodies and see if it may be one of them.

 

[Opa]

The best solution is to use a rollout nest. Make sure the eggs rollout where they can't be reach by the chickens.

 

[flakey chick]

One trick that supposedly works is mustard egg. Blow out an egg (or 2 or 3) and fill it with mustard. Chickens don't like the taste.

 

[greathorse]

I am going to jump on this thread if you dont mind. I too have a problem with the darn egg eaters. Anyone on here have a simple design for a roll out nest. I am not against eating the culprit but cant seem to find the guilty party. If I let them free roam all day, weekends for example 12-14 eggs and no evidence of egg eating. Weekdays whent they only get out for a few hours in the evening 7-8 eggs and scraps in the laying boxes. I hate it

 

[cackle]

Quote:
That is a great idea since we are building a new laying suite anyway. That might be the ticket.