Update on egg eater - kind of

[Stephanie R]

Could I say every day any more times in those four sentences? Yes
Example; But everyday I'll give anything a try.

 

[Stephanie R]

I had my 3 hens eating eggs for the better part of a year. I tried wooden eggs, filling them with soap, mustard, hot sauce, they ate them anyway! Finally my husband built a nest box where they roll into a little compartment that they can't get at and bingo! I started getting eggs again. They are 3.5 yrs old and I think they are winding down with laying but I still get some.

My husband and I went round and round many times about culling them because I had 3 newbies to introduce to them over the summer. We just could not do that, they were perfectly healthy.

So my advice to you is a rolling nest box if you can swap yours out. Good luck. I feel your frustration!

Yeah, that's not going to work for me and my set-up right now. Maybe next spring when I change coops. Hopefully I can figure this out in the meantime.

 

[Stephanie R]

Okay so I went out to the coop really early yesterday ... no eggs. But this morning when I went out there was an egg on the roost board (and all the birds were still roosting). It looked like a perfect egg, but when I picked it up it had a flat spot where it had hit the board. So I pressed and it had a very fragile shell. So I'm thinking the smashed egg on the roost board from two days ago was probably soft shelled also, but I couldn't tell because it was so smashed and I assume it was smashed due to trampling and not egg eating. That doesn't negate the fact that I think I at least have a curious BA pullet who pecked her own egg in the nest box the same morning.

Clear as mud?

Anyway, so now I have a different issue. Why is my youngest pullet laying on the roost boards at night? And soft shelled? But I'm most concerned about when rather than the condition of the eggshell, which I think can be remedied fairly easily.

She's is my most immature girl. She is 24 weeks and the other three are about 26. She is the lowest on the pecking order. She is not as robust of a bird as my other three. But she is bright and lively, I see her eat, she loves to forage, there are no pests or predators. Bedtime for her is a bit stressed as she is the the lowest and my BA goes out of her way to bully her. So maybe that's it, because all my other girls are laying beautiful hard shelled eggs ... two very reliably, and one not so much (the BA).

So wise chicken people, what say you?

 

[aart]

New layers often have thin/soft shelled eggs...and often don't lay in the nest due to 'lack of control'.

It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.
Frequent gathering and fake eggs in nests should deter the curious pecking/eating.
Tho soft and thin shelled are legitimate targets for consumption IMO...and may not lead to eating of good hard shelled eggs.

 

[Stephanie R]

New layers often have thin/soft shelled eggs...and often don't lay in the nest due to 'lack of control'.

It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.
Frequent gathering and fake eggs in nests should deter the curious pecking/eating.
Tho soft and thin shelled are legitimate targets for consumption IMO...and may not lead to eating of good hard shelled eggs.

From your mouth ... hoping the whole egg laying process for her will smooth out. It just kills me to be losing those eggs.