quail eating their own eggs?

[forkyfork]

Hello, I have recently started keeping a trio of button quail. The male is docile and there are no problems with feather picking or aggression. One of the females has started laying after an egg break from moving to new quarters. Today I noticed her egg was broken... I can't tell if someone stepped on it or purposefully broke/ate it. Has this happened to others?

 

[GrandmaBird]

it happens and just like chickens it is hard to break them of this habit. the best thing you can do is watch them and figure out what time of day the hen is laying then remove the eggs asap. And just a side note buttons should be kept in mated pairs for many different reasons that have been mentioned here before. but folks insist on having more then 2 in a cage so to each his own. good luck

 

[forkyfork]

false alarm... i moved their hides away from where they usually lay eggs and none have been broken since. one of them must have landed on an egg when he/she jumped off the roof

 

[benjamin123]

if chickens start eating their eggs you can blow out the yolk and white by two holes and fill the egg with vinegar so when they try to eat the egg they get sour vinegar. just a suggestion for the future and i guess it could work for quails.