pecking eggs

[krisbibs]

I have 4 laying hens and 5 that will be laying in a few weeks, hopefully. One of them is pecking and breaking the Small end of the egg (I'm thinking the barred rock). How do you stop this behavior???

 

[pdirt]

Occasionally, a chicken will learn that food is inside those eggs. Unfortunately often the final course of resolution is putting that chicken in the soup pot.

But a more common cause is a nutritional deficiency. They are not getting enough of certain nutrients from their diet and get it from eggs instead. Usually it is protein deficiency.

What are you feeding them?
How much and what kind of scraps/treats do you feed?
Do you offer them scratch grains? How much?

 

[krisbibs]

I'm feeding unlimited grower/finisher with a separate dish of oyster shells due to the other ones not laying yet. They have a run and when we are home we let them free range around the yard. The weird thing is only 1 egg out of 4 is getting a small little peck on the little end of the egg, and It's not everyday but most days. Sometimes they get cracked corn, vegetable tops from our garden.

 

[V1cky]

I've noticed every now and again I find an egg with a small hole in the pointed end. I'm thinking maybe the egg's not forming correctly coz on the rare occasion when my chickens do eat eggs they tend to eat the whole thing.