rhode island red hen pecking hole in eggs what do I do?

[stevenzoopet]

Ever since my one chicken has started laying four weeks ago she has pecked a hole in every one of her eggs an even gone after another chickens egg, plus last week she was eating her own egg! Is this a nutrition problem? What can I do to stop this?

 

[americancowboy]

put i golf ball in her nest box or get one of her eggs and inject real chayenne pepper into an egg and put it back in the nest box. Yeah it might be a sign, becuase when dogs eat grass that means their stomach hurts and when chickens eat their feathers that means they are not getting enough protein. Not sure what it means though.

 

[stevenzoopet]

Thanks I will try that.

 

[bigspringshatchery]

Im having this prob with my RIRs. I got 7 eggs today and 2 had holes in them. I had two with holes yesterday.

 

[hernan43]

Weird. I too have RIRs and one of them is pecking a single hole in her egg. She pecks it in the very center of the large end of the egg. She barely cracks the egg and doesnn't eat any of it. It is just weird and annoying for now.
--Ray

 

[Ace918]

Quote:
I am having the identical problem with my Ameraucanas, I am wondering if it is just the egg not completely forming in the 'Factory'. the "hole" is always in the same spot, and never completely through the whole shell. Sometimes it looks like the shell did not build up enough around the area. I have never actuallt seen anybody peck at the egg ????

 

[Amy's Animals]

I had this same problem just a few weeks ago with one of my hens. What I did to solve the problem was put 5 plastic easter eggs (in all colors of the rainbow, might I add) in every single nestbox

The marauding hen was quickly discouraged

Now, about 6 weeks later I removed all the easter eggs and not a single egg has been hurt since

But, if your coop is accessible to wild birds, it could have very well been a Blue Jay, they love chicken eggs.

 

[GrannySue]

First, make sure it isn't a crow. I have crows nearby and they sometimes go into the coop, help themselves to an egg and fly away with it. But I noticed crow pecking at a duck egg which had just been laid outside.

If she really is an egg eater, good luck! I adopted Hannibelle the Cannibelle thinking I could change her behaviour. She never laid an egg but ate any she could get her beak on. Cayenne pepper? Yum! She liked a bit of spice. So every morning she would be sent out into the main yard until most of the other chickens had finished laying their eggs and I had collected them.
This got really tiresome after a year or so. I rehomed her to a farm that adopts unwanted chickens. The owner keeps her in a run with pullets who haven't started laying yet.