She's eating the eggs

[Red jungle fowl88]

Eell I've been watching them all day today and tr last trip out there I found a almost hole egg but broken no yoke. I wa so MADD I want to set eggs on Friday and I would have had 5 today but know only 3!!!!! Well I bought some golf balls and threw them in there. They attacked them right away hopefully this works.

 

[mavis003]

We have 22 chickens, somebody is eating the eggs, My husband thought he knew the ones, so we culled and butchard for soup. Everyone was a layer, made me mad. They (whoever it is ) is still eating the eggs. Or pecking a whole in the egg. I told him if the egg is cracked when it falls, they will do that. We are going to butcher the whole bunch for soup and get new ones in the spring. My daughter did that and she has no problems at all. I should mention we added chickens after our first batch, I think that has something to do with it. I think when you raise them from babes they are better. Just my opinion. So happy to be here on this thread.

 

[Nash56]

Also make sure they have plenty of fresh water

 

[naked_heels]

Hen eat the eggs due to the eggs is not hers or the eggs not fertile, somehow they can figured out what's her or what not.

 

[chauqg]

Possible solution to egg eating: For the past weeks, being snowed in for many of the days, I was able to gather eggs several times more each day. My flock is of 25 young RIR pullets that began laying eggs mid January.

We were gathering eggs (2x) daily, and the number was fluctuating. This I was attributing to the fact that not all the birds were laying daily & the cold snowy storms that dropped 30+ inches on our property.

When I was snowed in and collecting 3 or 4 times more often, the number of daily eggs almost doubled. Hummmm! I thought the birds were egg eating - I was right. I do not have enough nest boxes, but had to do with the number that I currently have. I started with a 4’x3’x14” covered, dark community box which I thought was working, but it was not enough. I have since divided it into 4 individual boxes and it seems to be working better. Realistically I need 8 nest boxes and will have them soon I hope.

Back to the possible egg eating solution: I read here on BYC that birds don’t like to eat soap; I see that they are drawn to eggs/shells because they must taste great. I took an empty shell (one that is ¾ whole) and fill it with Murphy’s Oil Soap. When chilled the oil soap becomes very thick and does not run. After filling the shells with the oil soap, I rolled them around gently to make sure the entire inside of the shell was coated, and then added some more oil soap to make it look like a nice juicy egg yoke (might work even better if oil was more yellow).

I rested this loaded shell in the fridge while I put boots and winter coat on. Took the egg into the coop made an indentation in the bedding to hold he egg upright against the side of the coop and placed the egg in the litter…. The birds attacked it. Pecking the shell and the “faux” yoke. The birds definitely do not like oil soap! They shake their heads, wipe their beaks and seem to be shocked at the previously tasty treat. I have done this daily the past week, and each time there are fewer and fewer birds wanting to attack the loaded eggshell. We are getting average of 19 eggs per day, and some are the light colored eggs of a new laying pullet. So, not all are laying daily, but we are getting many more eggs and the birds are getting more and more shy about tasting the loaded shells. Initially it took a few minutes for the eggshell to be crushed and partially eaten. Now it takes 15 minutes and the shell remains almost completely intact with birds walking around it and only giving it a slight peck now and then. This morning there wer about 4 birds that tasted the soap…

I think they are learning that the shells are not such a great treat idea, and hopefully that will deter them from eating more eggs.

I will post further successes or failures by editing this post.

Faux Egg

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPl2by5n6jgBw&feat=directlink

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Total off topic. but: HAPPY FIRST BYC POST!!!

 

[trivia]

This is my first time wintering some chickens, and I'm having a hard time believing they'll keep on eating their eggs once they finally get back out on pasture. From the looks of it, if I started culling, I'd have to cull the whole lot, almost anyway, and I'm not doing that unless the egg eating keeps going once they're out and foraging.

Does anyone have experience with hens quitting eating them eggs when they get out on pasture again? What I've found out nutrition-wise about egg eating so far is pretty thin, like someone suggesting I'll need to take care of feeding the birds "the right feed", as if picking layer feed for layers was all there could be to it

The people I've talked to have fenced off yards for the summer, but that doesn't really add anything to the birds' diet but air and sunshine. Nobody's feeding anything like kelp for the minerals either, so could bad minerals absorption or quality could be it, even if there's theoretically plenty to go around in the diet?

 

[geebs]

Once they start eating eggs... Well foraging won't help.. cull before they all get the habit.

 

[chookchick]

I had a problem with egg eating when my hens were young (two older with no problems). These are the steps I took to stop it--I made sure their oyster shell container was always full (I had let it run out a couple of times), even though they are on (mostly) layer feed. I upped their protein, by giving them high protein treats such as washed cottage cheese, small amounts of cat food, sunflower seeds, shredded cheese, etc...Once you see them go after meat, you will realize they truly are omnivores, and need their protein! If they aren't getting enough calcium and/or protein, they will definitely be attracted to eggs.

I also put an egg-shaped rock in the nest, draped a cloth over the opening, and started collecting more often. I did do a mustard egg, but it didn't work (they ate the shell anyway, and made a mess), and I don't recommend it. I also read that soap can be very harmful for them, so I can't recommend that either. I think most of the problem was from soft shell/no shell eggs, and moved on from that. With the changes, I have had no problems since, and the eggs are nice and hard. You don't always have to resort to culling.