Stopping Egg Eaters

[corliss]

I have six chickens who are approaching two years of age and when they began to lay again this last January they began eating their eggs. I have tried many solutions but nothing has worked so far, included rolling nest box inserts (which don't fit the existing nest boxes well), mustard eggs and collecting frequently. I know many people will say get rid of them and start over but they are pets as well as our egg suppliers. Sadly, I am about ready to get rid of the hen I think may be the biggest offender but before I do, I want to make sure I've exhausted all possibilities for solving the problem.

My question is this: if I ordered a set of metal rolling nest boxes, could they just sit outside the coop? The run is totally chain link fenced, even the top, so predators aren't an issue. I've researched on this site and no one seems to separate their coop and nest boxes. Is there a good reason for this? Thanks for the help.

 

[vjbakke]

I have no personal experience, but what I have heard is that it is next to impossible to stop it. They teach other hens to do it as well. Sadly culling is the only way to stop it. Then you could start over with new chicks or started hens. Sorry I have nothing else, maybe someone else knows.

 

[The Old Whittler]

I had chickens back in the 70's & 80's and didn't have any problems with them eating their eggs but they freeranged. This time with chickens I keep them in a chicken tractor and have had a problem with them eating their eggs. I ended up putting in a sloped floor over the original floor and that's taken care of the egg eating problem. Now when a hen lays a egg it rolls down the sloped floor to the back of the nest box and drops down to the original floor and rolls up under the sloped floor to where it can't be reached. I have carpet covering the sloped floor and the original floor. I let the carpet on the original floor roll up the back of the nest box so when the egg rolls down the sloped floor it hits the carpet on the back of the box and drops down hitting the roll in the carpet that propels it toward the front of the nest box on the original floor. So far it's worked great and my eggs are a lot cleaner also.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Sorry to hear you are having this problem. I just recently had a RIR doing this. She had been molting sense I got her and she just begun to lay eggs, I had not bought any oyster shell yet so I did the thing were you bake the egg shells and break them until you can't tell they were eggs any more and then feed them back to the hens as their calcium source. They all loved it and ate it all right away, But with in days my RIR Elmo started to eat eggs. Now I don't think she was eating her own eggs but needless to say I was not happy. So I thought I started it by feeding them egg shells. What I did was separate her from the other hens and gave her a nest box also to see what she would do, then bought some oyster shells for everyone. Which they all scarfed down. Elmo continued to lay but not eat her own eggs, so I kept her confined for about a week and a half then decided to try one more time before she became our dinner! She no longer eats eggs! I think she just needed the calcium. Good luck, hope she stops!

 

[peepblessed]

Sorry to hear you are having this problem. I just recently had a RIR doing this. She had been molting sense I got her and she just begun to lay eggs, I had not bought any oyster shell yet so I did the thing were you bake the egg shells and break them until you can't tell they were eggs any more and then feed them back to the hens as their calcium source. They all loved it and ate it all right away, But with in days my RIR Elmo started to eat eggs. Now I don't think she was eating her own eggs but needless to say I was not happy. So I thought I started it by feeding them egg shells. What I did was separate her from the other hens and gave her a nest box also to see what she would do, then bought some oyster shells for everyone. Which they all scarfed down. Elmo continued to lay but not eat her own eggs, so I kept her confined for about a week and a half then decided to try one more time before she became our dinner! She no longer eats eggs! I think she just needed the calcium. Good luck, hope she stops!

This is an important point! If shells are too thin an egg may break and like Farmin Momma says they will eat it and every egg that gets egg yolk on it. Sometimes laying mash is not enough. Supply free choice oyster shell. When I did this, the egg eating stopped!

 

[The Old Whittler]

I feed oyster shell free choice but have only been doing it for about three or four weeks. Maybe it takes a while but I never noticed that the egg shells were thin before I started feeding it. I did find a few whole eggs that had been pecked on and had a tiny broken place in it but were not broken through the membrane inside the shell. I just use those eggs first.

 

[peepblessed]

I feed oyster shell free choice but have only been doing it for about three or four weeks. Maybe it takes a while but I never noticed that the egg shells were thin before I started feeding it. I did find a few whole eggs that had been pecked on and had a tiny broken place in it but were not broken through the membrane inside the shell. I just use those eggs first.

I doubt it takes more than a few days.

 

[peepblessed]

I had chickens back in the 70's & 80's and didn't have any problems with them eating their eggs but they freeranged. This time with chickens I keep them in a chicken tractor and have had a problem with them eating their eggs. I ended up putting in a sloped floor over the original floor and that's taken care of the egg eating problem. Now when a hen lays a egg it rolls down the sloped floor to the back of the nest box and drops down to the original floor and rolls up under the sloped floor to where it can't be reached. I have carpet covering the sloped floor and the original floor. I let the carpet on the original floor roll up the back of the nest box so when the egg rolls down the sloped floor it hits the carpet on the back of the box and drops down hitting the roll in the carpet that propels it toward the front of the nest box on the original floor. So far it's worked great and my eggs are a lot cleaner also.

Cool!

 

[t/m]

I had chickens back in the 70's & 80's and didn't have any problems with them eating their eggs but they freeranged. This time with chickens I keep them in a chicken tractor and have had a problem with them eating their eggs. I ended up putting in a sloped floor over the original floor and that's taken care of the egg eating problem. Now when a hen lays a egg it rolls down the sloped floor to the back of the nest box and drops down to the original floor and rolls up under the sloped floor to where it can't be reached. I have carpet covering the sloped floor and the original floor. I let the carpet on the original floor roll up the back of the nest box so when the egg rolls down the sloped floor it hits the carpet on the back of the box and drops down hitting the roll in the carpet that propels it toward the front of the nest box on the original floor. So far it's worked great and my eggs are a lot cleaner also.

How clever! How do you keep the carpet clean?

 

[Den in Penn]

We're looking at the back with the back off right? My question is how do you collect the eggs? Does the new floor lift up or a door in the front?