JJandtheBoys
Chirping
- Oct 26, 2020
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For the past three days, one of our chickens (or some of them) have been eating eggs - faster than we can gather them. The yard is impenetrable by predators, so I am absolutely sure that the eggs are being eaten by our own birds. I am adding ceramic eggs to all of our 10 nesting boxes, but I need advice on how to stop this. I am working from home, so the kids and I are checking for eggs very frequently and removing them immediately, but these egg-eaters are faster than we are.
Please feel free to ignore or read the rest of this post, but I'm including this information now, in case this detail is helpful in providing possible solutions.
We have a flock of 20 birds - 6 hens who are 19 months old, 1 19 month old rooster, and 13 pullets ages 14 and 16 weeks. This is the first instance of egg eating.
The yard is constructed of cedar posts with 6' of chicken wire fencing (buried a foot). The wire fence is also skirted in 2" of hardware cloth -12" below, 12" above ground. Inside the yard is a 6' Rugged Ranch chicken pen that can be closed at night. It is also skirted with 2' of hardware mesh - 12" below, 12" above ground). The yard also has "awnings" of which wire around the perimeter to deter hawks or climbing animals.
Recently, our older birds have started laying again after a post-molt winter break. Someone is laying eggs in our the nesting box the small coop.
Please feel free to ignore or read the rest of this post, but I'm including this information now, in case this detail is helpful in providing possible solutions.
We have a flock of 20 birds - 6 hens who are 19 months old, 1 19 month old rooster, and 13 pullets ages 14 and 16 weeks. This is the first instance of egg eating.
- Free range daily for about 5 to 6 hours - they usually stay within a 1/2 acre of their yard but have been known to explore up to 5 acres on our property
- 4 feeding/watering stations around their chicken yard with access to Purina Flock Raiser
- Free access to oyster shell and grit
- Enclosed chicken yard - 360 Square feet
- Two Formex Snaplock large coops (raised to allow access under - in other words, lots of room to run)
- A third smallish coop that is also in their covered run - all chickens have access to it, and it can serve as a "hospital coop" or "isolation coop" if we need it to (because it has a self-contained run that we can close off if needed. Nobody actually sleeps in this coop. They play in it, and recently someone is laying in the nesting box. This particular coop has been the scene of the crime all three times.
The yard is constructed of cedar posts with 6' of chicken wire fencing (buried a foot). The wire fence is also skirted in 2" of hardware cloth -12" below, 12" above ground. Inside the yard is a 6' Rugged Ranch chicken pen that can be closed at night. It is also skirted with 2' of hardware mesh - 12" below, 12" above ground). The yard also has "awnings" of which wire around the perimeter to deter hawks or climbing animals.
Recently, our older birds have started laying again after a post-molt winter break. Someone is laying eggs in our the nesting box the small coop.
