We've got an egg-eater on our hands...😤

[mosse71]

I had the same problem in March, my local feed supplier suggested a higher protein feed. I've been using 19% protein feed since and the problem is mostly gone. I still on chicken that will still eat an egg, maybe every 3 or 4 weeks. The mustard did not work for me either, they seem to enjoy it.

ill try the higher protein feed but i also started feeding a couple cups of soldier fly larva in march as well so that should bring up their protein and calcium. last year i didnt do that.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

I ordered mine from Amazon.

Do you think they will fit large breeds? I have a Buff Orpington and an ISA Brown who I want to where them.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Absolutely! It has an app and it's free and the recording stays for three days but I also have an SD card in it. I have two cameras and I can move them around wherever I want.

Hi again, I may be interested in getting one of those for myself! I was wondering how you are able to move it around? Do you have to keep unscrewing and then re-fastening it to a wall? TY!

 

[KtheChickenGal]

Hello everyone. We've got some egg-eater(s) now This has been going on since maybe December? Or November? Or earlier?Honestly it has probably been going on for even longer than that, since I've seen broken eggs in the summer, but we just suspected that our chicken's big bodies were smashing the eggs against the bottom of the nesting boxes. That's definitely a possibility, since they have had yolk on their underbellies before. It's a pain in the butt because we are not getting barely any eggs as it is because it's the middle of winter, and the chickens have been eating all of the eggs that they lay. So we have to buy our eggs in the store now. There is evidence- such as empty egg shells in the run, yolk in the nesting boxes, yolk on the chicken's faces, and half-eaten eggs that are buried underneath the pine shavings somehow.
You would think that it would be easy to find out who the egg eater is by seeing who has yolk on them, but most of them have yolk on themselves, that's the problem. I think there is one chicken who grabs the egg and starts eating it, and the others join in to eat the egg- so there is the culprit, and the partners in crime. The partners in crime obviously are doing nothing wrong, because they are just joining in to eat the egg if you know what I mean. I must find out who the culprit is so I can stop them. Also, have you seen how expensive eggs are in the store??? HOLY COW!!! Great value (Walmart) eggs are 5 dollars and something. We want to start selling eggs for like 6-7 bucks once egg production starts back up but we obviously can't do that if the chickens are eating their eggs Is there a cheap way to stop our egg eater(s)? Getting rid of them or culling them is definitely NOT an option, they are our little babies. Also, a camera would be very hard to install because there is no electricity running to the coop, and cameras are expensive. Is there a way that we can make a DIY automatic-egg-collecting nesting box with only a few materials? Or if you have other suggestions they will be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance!

I'd try to get the eggs collected as fast as you can, that severely decreased the amount of eggs eaten by my chickens. You could try putting fake eggs in the nesting boxes, too! Maybe your chickens are bored? Do they get to free range at all? Boredom busting stuff could help and give them something else to do.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I'd try to get the eggs collected as fast as you can, that severely decreased the amount of eggs eaten by my chickens. You could try putting fake eggs in the nesting boxes, too! Maybe your chickens are bored? Do they get to free range at all? Boredom busting stuff could help and give them something else to do.

Actually when this egg eating issue was prominent was during the bird flu crisis when we had them locked up all the time, but now that it's calmed down we are free-ranging them almost every day and the egg-eating has thankfully decreased to about 2-3 eggs eaten per week! Thank you for the suggestions though!


Just a P.S. to those of you trying to get stop this habit, don't do the mustard trick! My chickens pecked the mustard egg clean and there was no trace of it! They actually thought I gave them a treat...
It definitely works for some people's chickens but mine weren't fooled LMAO

 

[KtheChickenGal]

Actually when this egg eating issue was prominent was during the bird flu crisis when we had them locked up all the time, but now that it's calmed down we are free-ranging them almost every day and the egg-eating has thankfully decreased to about 2-3 eggs eaten per week! Thank you for the suggestions though!


Just a P.S. to those of you trying to get stop this habit, don't do the mustard trick! My chickens pecked the mustard egg clean and there was no trace of it! They actually thought I gave them a treat...
It definitely works for some people's chickens but mine weren't fooled LMAO

Yay, that's good!
Haha! I haven't tried the mustard trick, but I bet my chickens would love it too.