Need help with egg eating chickens

[rufus]

I rescued an old kitchen cabinet from the alley. I took the back off of it and installed partitions and a false back that is elevated about two and half inches. I put its former backside up to side of the coop and shimmed it a little so that the eggs will roll backward to what was the front of the cabinet. They roll under the false back, and all I have to do is open the cabinet doors and gather eggs.

I didn't have a problem with egg eating, but like my mother used to say "trust is the first step to betrayal."

You might also load up you nests with golf balls, door knobs and anything else that looks like a egg. They are not too smart, but after pecking on a lot of hard junk, they will get frustrated and quit it.

Keep the nest area dark and difficult for more than one hen at a time.

Good luck,

Rufus

 

[sandypaws]

they can also start eating the eggs from a nutritional problem or boredom... so make sure they are getting a good diet and plenty of other stuff to pick at...
mine start because of being bored.. even tho they have a HUGE area to run in... i live in the desert so not much to pick at.

 

[RavenStorm]

Thanks for the link Kim_NC, that set up might be a little too big for my current coop but I'll try to make a smaller copy of that sucker and I'll keep it filed away for the next one we make. Hopefully we will have a bigger property by the fall and then I'll be ready for an expansion!

I'll try every trick you guys have given me until I find something that works and if nothing does, then I'll build the boxes. If the boxes don't work then it's time to bring out the big pot and some new chicks ...

 

[RavenStorm]

Quote:
If anything, these girls probably have an over-nutrition problem. They get their layer mash, scratch, veggie and fruit scraps from the kitchen, plus whatever they pick up while out in their run. I can probably see them getting bored though, but until I have a bigger property for them everything has to be stationary.

 

[Imp]

RavenStorm,
I stopped my egg eating hens by rearranging things in the coop. putting in buckets for nests. And filling the buckets with golf/tennis balls and stone eggs. They were also just starting to lay. Here a couple months later they don't touch the eggs, and I don't get home from work to collect often until 8-9pm. Good Luck.
Imp

They stopped in 2 days, after eating eggs for about a week. And they never ate any eggs in the buckets.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I keep a golf ball in each nest box that I have. I started that back when I had an egg eatting problem. The problem stopped and has not started in over 1 year.

 

[RavenStorm]

Ok, so now after having at least one egg eaten on Monday and Tuesday, I have gone through two days with no casualties. I separated out the two that I think were the trouble makers into a much smaller pen that the chickens don't like, and I put in a different nest box than the one they are used to. One of them laid and egg and I know this sounds cruel, but when I picked it up I held it in front of the two hens and every time they reached for it I flicked the side of their head with my fingers. To me it felt like training a dog, not abuse, because I wasn't trying to hurt them I just introduced some unpleasant stimulus. Very quickly they stopped reaching, and so far no egg eating from any of them and I only did it once. I don't know if it was that aversion therapy, new nest box, or the separation but I'm still not going to leave it at that. I'm still going to get some golf balls for them to peck at, and hopefully I nipped this in the bud.

 

[sandypaws]

OK that is a funny visual... flicking the end of the chickens "nose" when it goes for the egg... like training a dog!!!! thats great i really hope it works.. maybe you can make a video "how to train chickens" and sell it to all of us!!!!!!

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

OK - The one time that I was able to identify the bad girl. Yolk on her white feathers and she would go after the eggs in the egg basket....... She became dinner.

The visual of you flicking and I imagine you saying "Bad Chicken, very bad chicken" . Now that is funny.

 

[Gunslinger]

if anything, these girls probably have an over-nutrition problem. They get their layer mash, scratch, veggie and fruit scraps from the kitchen, plus whatever they pick up while out in their run. I can probably see them getting bored though, but until I have a bigger property for them everything has to be stationary.

Try cutting out the fruit & veggies and just give them a little scratch when its due to be colder weather.

I would try feeding a good quality layer feed only.
Its possible they are filling up on the extras and not eating a properly balanced diet.
A quality feed will have all the nutrition that is needed.​