New to Chickens!!!

[FarmerFaith81]

I am new to this whole chicken business. While I have had lots of experiance with much smaller birds, I know every animal is different. My husband and I built our enourmous chicken coop, and made a "nesting" area. Some of our friends have said that actual nesting boxes were not necessary. Is this true? We have 2 red stars, and 2 barred rock hens. Also, My husband bought all four for me at an auction. Our friend who has chickens of his own checked and said they had been laying eggs. Only one so far has laid. And the last four days all four eggs have been cracked and eaten. Im not sure if the shells are too soft, or if I have an egg cracking hen on my hands. I have added oyster shells into the feed starting yesterday, but if this doesnt solve my issue, what can I do?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If you bought them at auction, they might have been selling them due to the fact they were egg eaters (if they are egg eaters, that is).

However, you can do a couple of things:
Put golf balls or fake eggs in the nestboxes. Nestboxes that are dark deter egg eating.

Try to collect eggs more frequently if you can. Some have had success filling an egg with mustard or something nasty tasting but non-toxic.

Others put food coloring inside an egg and put it in there...check whose beak is colored to see who is eating them.

Egg eating is a habit...and one will teach the others to do it. The best thing to do is fix a very dark area for egglaying with a curtain if necessary to darken it...hens don't like to eat in the dark.

The oyster shell bin is important too, as soft shelled eggs will be eaten by all hens practically.

 

[FarmerFaith81]

Thank you! I did not know the dark played a role in their eating habits! I will have to try the food color trick. Thanks again!

 

[jlovelady]

How old are these hens?

 

[FarmerFaith81]

I have no clue! My husband bought them for me at an auction/sale barn.

 

[FarmerFaith81]

Ok so I did an experiment, I put a brown egg out in the yard, and my chicken Georgia went right for it. The others didnt touch the egg. So I have found the cracker!!! But now how do i make her stop it? Anyone know??

 

[StarLover21]

Blow an egg out and fill it with mustard. When she goes for it, she'll get a nasty surprise. You may have to do this a few times, until she stops eating them. Try to make the nestboxes dark. Unfortunatally it's hard to get them to stop sometimes. If nothing else works, you can get a roll out nesting box, so she can't reach them (just do an internet search if you don't know what I mean). One other thing you can try are pinless peepers. People use them to stop chickens from pecking eachother. It makes it so that the chickens can't see right in front of them, and so she wouldn't be able to 'aim' at the egg. You can try leaving that on awhile and see if it breaks the habit.

Pinless peepers: http://www.eggcartons.com/Pinless-Peepers/productinfo/PINLESS-P/

 

[FarmerFaith81]

I like the mustarded filled egg idea. Thats awesome!!! Thanks. If that doesnt work, Ill try the peepers! Thanks!!!

 

[FarmerFaith81]

I just finished my first try of the mustard egg, and it worked well today. she pecked at the egg, and at the first taste of mustard she walked away from it. The other chickens started to eat the shell, and as soon as they got the taste of mustard they also walked away!! I plan on doing this again tomorrow and saturday. hopefully by then she will think all eggs taste this way. thank you again for your suggestion!

 

[StarLover21]

Yay!