Oh, NO! Raw egg eating chicken!

[Farmer Kitty]

Quote:
Good!

If you can, collect eggs frequently so they are not in the nests for her to get at.

 

[airmom1c05]

I collect every day. Sometimes I'm too early, and before this behavior began she always took Sunday off! I think hens are supposed to lay every 26 hours. Someone failed to inform Brandy of this fact, however, and she lays at different times of the day each day. She has even layed right before roosting time. I love it when she lays while I'm with her. That's like watching a miracle in my opinion. It takes her 45 minutes to an hour from start to finish. Does anyone know if that is normal?

 

[MissPrissy]

The general rule on laying is about every 25 hours. This doesn't mean all chickens do so. Some lay only every other day. Some lay like clock work same time every day. Some hens may sit and sqawk for a couple hours before they lay. Just like every women has her own personal monthly cycle, every hen has her own individual egg laying cycle.

Be patient with her. It all comes out in the end.

 

[airmom1c05]

It all comes out in the end.

 

[gmc]

You can bet that if a hen drops an egg from the rafters that it will be eaten unless there is a mighty soft landing waiting on it below. Broken eggs are eaten, no questions ask. One of my hens dropped an egg in the run, staw on the floor, and hens walked over it for two days without incident, but yet when my nests boxes aren't maintained properly I start to find evidence of eggs being eaten. I believe as one of the posters has already indicated, hens are bit smarter than folks give them credit for. Eggs that aren't hatchable to a hen don't seem to hang around long. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. And yes, the card board thing works and I'm still doing it.

gmc

 

[ZeldaHere]

I have six chickens and had a small problem with egg eating. I put golf balls in their nesting boxes and the problem cleared up very quickly. I also started giving them oyster shell mixed in with their grain and that has also helped.

 

[chickrick]

We have an assortment of 20 chickens.

We collect eggs twice a day. We have found an eaten egg on the floor in the coop occasionally.

My question is, will this turn into a huge problem?

If anybody has an answer to this question, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Chickrick

 

[Chickiemama1010]

I do not think this will be a prob for you chickrick. As others have stated, an egg that is deemed unhatchable (soft shell etc) is eaten and eliminated. if it falls or breaks it will be eaten. If it freezes before you get there to collect, it will be eaten. Its not a egg-eating problem at all. Its chickens cleaning up.

things to consider are having enough nest boxes for the layers, if they fight over the nest holes, eggs will be broken in the fight. Are they getting enough calcium? If their egg shells are hard then yes, they are. An occasional eaten egg is clean up. Several eggs eaten a day is a problem. My flock eats an egg maybe once a month. I dont have egg eaters. I have an efficient clean-up crew.

Sometimes an "assortment" is not always a good idea. If you have 20 breeds of chicken, small, big, aggressive, docile, broody, not broody....this could be an issue for you. Maybe not now but later down the line. Some hatcheries sell straight run of late bloomers. Its the few eggs in the incu that didnt hatch the same day the rest of the eggs did, but still hatched a day or 2 later. While they are offered at a lower price, sometimes you wind up with 20 chicks of 18 breeds and completely different temperment and habits. and thats not ususally good. It could be a way to get some rare breeds and fancy ornamental birds though at a discounted price. You roll the dice when you do that tho. You may wind up with RIRs, plymoth rocks and leghorns

 

[JoeandKatherine]

Well it's been 2 months since someone posted to this topic maybe I'll get an answer.

Three times now one (I assume) of my hens is not laying an egg in the boxes. I had 2 boxes but built another one so I have 3 boxes 8 hens. She isn't laying eggs in the yard either. She just drops them where she is. If she is on a 2x4 in the coop she drops it if she is i have found broken eggs in the basin of the bathtub(that is what I use for my coop) so it appears that one of my hens is NOT using the nesting ox. This is new behavior too. There never used to be a problem before. I have had 2 hens laying in one box simultaneously. I also have a broody silkie and wonder if that is the problem.


Joe

 

[Egz in the Hood]

Wow, some good advice in this thread, thank you very much. Found this thread via 'search' after some suspicion of egg-eating in our small flock. We've noticed that our eggshells have gotten somewhat thinner recently so we are going to try to up their calcium - we thought we've been giving them enough (oyster shells in both their feed and (sometimes) their scratch as well) - any other tricks to get them to eat more calcium?

I liked the suggestion about the chickens possibly 'evaluating' their own eggs for strength then eating the ones that fail the 'peck test' for sake of efficiency - maybe not birdbrains after all?

We might also go with the corrugated cardboard trick between the shavings and the wood for extra cushioning, and three old golf balls we dug up.

Thanks again,