Egg eating chickens...grrrrr!

[Limner]

Just brought our new hens home yesterday, and they seem to be settling down nicely. There are twelve of them, plus a rooster, Rhode Island Reds, and they'll be one in April. Hubby went out to check them this evening, and there was a broken eggshell in the pen, all insides gone.

They are getting layer mash and lotsa water and scraps, so they aren't hungry. But we have had chickens do this before. WHAT causes this, and HOW do we keep it from happening? They were looked in on three times today, so it's not like they were neglected.

[just me]

Are you feeding them any oyster shell? It could be that they need the calcium. How about grit?? They need that too.

[dilligaf]

yep its most likely calcium as just me said. oyster shells or dry your egg shells,crush them up and feed them back to them.

[Summerthyme]

To a very great extent, it starts out as an accident (hen breaks an egg accidently and finds out it tastes good) and then... unfortunately... it can turn into one horrible habit to try to break.

A couple tips... DARK (cover with heavy cloth like denim) nest boxes... Most hens don't like hanging around in the dark for long, and they won't spend as much time in a covered nest as they would in an open box.

Lots of good fluffy bedding, and maybe those rubber nest box liner pads- anything to help prevent accidental breakage. The oyster shell will help a lot there... stronger shells.

Then... watch them. Because they're all one breed, you may have to put leg bands on them (different colors or something- even daubing some paint on their feathers on their backs could work) so you can tell them apart. But most times, unless it has gotten really out of hand, you only have one or two "dedicated" egg eaters. If you still have a problem after a week or so of settling in, do everything you can to figure out WHICH ones are doing it... and make them into soup!

I had a Buff Orp hen who would literally sit in the nest box and wait for a hen to lay an egg... which she would promptly break and consume. TOO expensive for me to keep... made a nice stew, though.

Oh, and NEVER feed used egg shells back to the hens without first crushing them up REALLY well... you want small bits of shell, nothing recognizable as "an egg". They're a good source of calcium, but you don't want to encourage bad habits.

Summerthyme

[Limner]

NO oyster shell or grit just yet-we'll put that on the next Rural King list. It's gonna be hard to pick out individuals...they all look the same! YIKES!

[dilligaf]

try the oyster and grit before culling:)

[Timex1954]

It took us three weeks after adding crushed egg shells and oyster shells to the hens' diet before they quit eating the eggs. You may have patience...

Also, once the bugs start showing up (if they're free-range chickens) the egg eating may let up on its own. Hens may be hunting for more PROTEIN in their diet.

[Little RedRidingHood]

If I get an egg eating hen, and I find the proof on the beak of dryed yolk, I remove the hen from the flock by placing her inside a small cage for two or three days in the dark. I then remove her and place her back with her flock. I leave the small cage inside the chicken pen so she can still have company, by sound, but not be loose running. Food and water twice daily.
Don't know why it works but my grandmother told me this is what her grandmother did with her egg laying hens.
So far it has always worked for me ... maybe it's the breaking of a pattern??? Forcing a different thought pattern?
Free range chickens seem to rarely eat their eggs. Our problem here when the chickens range free is egg eating snakes!!

[Limner]

I've got some blinky yogurt that I'm gonna send out with Hubby today aswell as some other scraps so maybe that will help with the calcium thing a bit. Free reange now an option right now, with 11 inches of snow on the ground...:o)))) ButI understand what you're saying. They're getting lotsa stuff to eat and they're not bored. Can't wait until spring!!!

[Disastercat]

Also, make sure its the other chickens, most likely it is. But in the past we've had both rats and a barn cat that does this. Egg eating barn cat is also our best mouser and ratter, so when we still had chickens I just compromised and gave her an egg every day to play with. She seemed OK with this, but not all cats would be. If its a chicken repeat offender, off with her head and into the soup!

[Limner]

Also, make sure its the other chickens, most likely it is. But in the past we've had both rats and a barn cat that does this. Egg eating barn cat is also our best mouser and ratter, so when we still had chickens I just compromised and gave her an egg every day to play with. She seemed OK with this, but not all cats would be. If its a chicken repeat offender, off with her head and into the soup!

I think it's just hens at this point; we only have one cat and I don't think she can get into the hen house. No signs of rodents, either. When we were kids, we had a Cocker Spaniel who liked to eat eggs, tho'; she had a very "soft" mouth and we always knew when she had one, 'cause she looked like she was sucking on a large jawbreaker. She'd carry it to a hidey spot and carefully crack and lap it up.

[Limner]

I went out this afternoon and parked two china eggs that I had found in the egg boxes...I'm picturing the offending bird whacking at them and going BBBBOOOIIINNNGGG! (Too many Road Runner cartoons as a child, LOL!) We'll see it THAT helps. Hubby and I are off to Rural King for grit and such...

[Stanb999]

Don't feed raw egg shell right back to the chickens. This will give any parasite or disease that one may have to the rest.

If your gonna feed egg shell this is how we do it. Take and store up a bunch, we keep them in the fridge in a zip lock.


Heat them on a pan (use and old or junkie one).
Heat them at 400 for 1 hour.
When you take them out they will be brittle and easy to crush into a powder.

[Limner]

Thanks! I suspect a pan on top of the wood stove would do the same thing, too....

[frank4]

I actually thought for sure it was a hen eating my eggs couldn't figure out which one finally I was so angry after trying everything I set up a camera turns out one of those little white and blue birds with a long beak not a woodpecker would sqeeze through a 2X2 hole in the upper vent would fly down and eat the egg in about 15 seconds.Anyway I took care of him with a 12 guage and put fine wire mesh in the vent above. Good luck

[Limner]

HMMM....maybe a Barn swallow? Did your bird have a forked tail? I think ours are gone for the winter, but they'll be something to keep an eye out for this summer, for sure. Thanks...!

[frank4]

I am not sure if its tail was forked there wasn't anything left.But it was about twice the size of a barn swallow.It had a long pointed beak.We have lots of finches that hang around the coop and eat out of the feeder but they never hurt anything.This happened in the summer to fall time.

[babysteps]

Magpie, I'd bet. Biggish bird, blue, black and white? They're horrid birds... this is sheep country and magpies will pick the eyes out of newborn lambs.

[Limner]

EEEOOOUUWW!!! No magpies that I know of in Indiana; if there are, they must not be too common. Thank Heavens!

[momof23goats]

I dry my shells, and brown the min the wood stove, then smash up and feed back. I also give them a pork chop every once in a while. seems to do the trick.