Suddenly eating their eggs

[ClundRnc]

Our chickens that are gratefully laying 5 eggs a day, are now starting to lay eggs in weird places and eating the eggs that they are not laying in the egg boxes. Now what do I do to stop that nonsense?
Thanks for your help!

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

Hmm.. I had a similar issue a few years ago. Are they eating their food? If not, maybe they just don't like it and are hungry. Make sure you are providing lots of oyster shells for calcium, otherwise they might try to eat their eggs to re-absorb some of the calcium in the shells. As for not laying in the nest boxes, have they done that before? Do they know where they are located? I'm just popping out ideas here. Best of luck!

 

[Lovem all]

Put ceramic eggs in the egg box. They think they are real but can't crack them so it deters them. Plus it shows them where to lay them

 

[aart]

Our chickens that are gratefully laying 5 eggs a day, are now starting to lay eggs in weird places and eating the eggs that they are not laying in the egg boxes. Now what do I do to stop that nonsense?
Thanks for your help!

How old are your birds, in weeks or months?
How long have they been laying?
Do the eggs that are being eaten have good hard shells...or weak thin shells?
How many birds and how many nests?
A fake eggs in each nest is always a good thing to do, IMO.

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[ClundRnc]

How old are your birds, in weeks or months?
How long have they been laying?
Do the eggs that are being eaten have good hard shells...or weak thin shells?
How many birds and how many nests?
A fake eggs in each nest is always a good thing to do, IMO.

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

The hens are 8 months old and have been laying since 21 weeks, except for 1 that started laying about 3 weeks ago. They are given layer feed, lots of vegs on the side. Calcium and grit also, they free roam nearly everyday for several hours. They're shells are strong. We put a golf ball in each of 4 laying box and have 5 hens.

 

[aart]

Do the eggs that are being eaten have good hard shells...or weak thin shells?

Are you finding any shell remains?

except for 1 that started laying about 3 weeks ago.

Is that when the egg eating started?

 

[pozees2]

In my experience, almost every bird that eats eggs needs more protein. Layer feed only has 16% protein, which is the absolute minimum they need, so when you dilute that with extra veggies it means they aren't getting enough protein. You can switch to a higher protein feed, for long term solution, and meantime give them high protein treats to give immediate relief, which can be cooking eggs for them (scrambled is easy, hard boiled also works), give them meal worms (which also have calcium), some people have used cat food and dog food as treats although mine never cared for either.

It is 100% true that *not every* bird that eats eggs needs protein, but almost every bird does.

 

[Aapomp831]

Hmm.. I had a similar issue a few years ago. Are they eating their food? If not, maybe they just don't like it and are hungry. Make sure you are providing lots of oyster shells for calcium, otherwise they might try to eat their eggs to re-absorb some of the calcium in the shells. As for not laying in the nest boxes, have they done that before? Do they know where they are located? I'm just popping out ideas here. Best of luck!

Actually, chickens eat eggs when they are seeking out more protein.

 

[Aapomp831]

The hens are 8 months old and have been laying since 21 weeks, except for 1 that started laying about 3 weeks ago. They are given layer feed, lots of vegs on the side. Calcium and grit also, they free roam nearly everyday for several hours. They're shells are strong. We put a golf ball in each of 4 laying box and have 5 hens.

I would switch to Flock Raiser and give them oyster shell on the side.