Our chickens having been eating their eggs... we give them oyster shells, feed and water are always available. Any suggestions welcome.( mother in law says we should kill the culprits...) Thanks! Laurie

-- Laurie (TL_Russell@telus.net), September 12, 2001

Answers

Laurie, are they breaking them and eating them, or are they eating already broken eggs? (I assume they are breaking them, but thought I would be sure) My mother raised chickens and sold eggs for years, I am just a novice, but will ask her tomorrow if I can remember and see if she has any helpful hints!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), September 12, 2001.

That's a very tough bad habit to break, Laurie, and I doubt if you'll find many that have conquered it. If you know which bird(s) is/are doing it, separate it/them from the flock before they ALL are doing it. Folks I know toss the culprit(s) into a pot with noodles.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), September 12, 2001.

I had the same problems and give my oyster shells with food and water always available. I finally kept a closer watch on the hens and got rid of all the hens that were caught with egg on their faces! It's like a domino affect so get rid of the culprits asap. Other hens will see the culprits eating eggs and start doing the same. It's better to get rid of a few birds then to have a coop full of egg eaters.

-- Dan (farmerdan130@msn.com), September 13, 2001.

that should be my hens! Sorry.

-- Dan (farmerdan130@msn.com), September 13, 2001.

Use stone or china or wooden nest-eggs - hard so they hurt when they're pecked. Use as many of these as you can get, so the hen's chances of getting a real egg when they peck are reduced - maybe you can borrow some for two or three weeks from neighbours as well. Keep eggs gathered regularly, so the ratio of real to fake eggs stays low, and again the hen's chances of getting a real egg are reduced. This also means you can identify what time the damage is being done. Also, while it sounds ridiculous, if you've got a video camera you may be able to use it to identify who's doing the damage. As said above, if you can identify culprits, isolate them. If after that no other eggs are being broken then you've got the culprits: concentrate all the attention, nest eggs, etc on them. If you still can't solve the problem, then eat the guilty parties.

Another thing - this subject arises fairly frequently - check the older messages section, in the Poultry categories. One person, I remember, said that their poultry appeared to be doing this because of a protein deficiency, and feeding them high-quality animal protein (meat - chopped liver?) corrected the problem.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), September 13, 2001.

"Off with their heads! Off with their heads!" :)

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), September 13, 2001.

I've had this problem in the past. I ended up finding out who the culprits were and culling them. I did do a few other things also. I built a couple new nestboxes so that I now have 3 for 6 hens. Hens are like any other bird and can get territorial about their nestboxes. If they find "foreign" eggs in their box, they get rid of them. I also found that the hens would break eggs by color. For awhile, only the brown eggs were broken. I culled one hen. Then only the green eggs were broken. I culled a different hen. I also stopped giving them their eggshells to eat for awhile and when I started again I pulverized the eggshells so as to make them unidentifiable as such. Right now, I have no egg eaters in the flock. Here's hoping it stays that way!!!

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), September 13, 2001.

A couple months back I found that my hens were eating eggs. I happened to catch them one day when there was a hole in an egg, but it had not yet been eaten. I took the egg, emptied it out and refilled it with hot mustard & tabasco sauce. I put the egg back in the coop and let them investigate. They haven't eaten an egg since.

-- Mary S. (1deal@quik.com), September 13, 2001.

Are your hens cooped up in a small pen? If they are they could be eating them because they are bored. I always keep a golf ball in my nest and my hens free range so the only time they are in the nest is when they are laying.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 13, 2001.

Greetings Laurie,

We used to have egg-eaters too. Make sure you have ample floor space for your flock. If they are too crowded they will eat eggs and peck each other too. As Mary suggested, the mustard & tabasco sauce is a good suggestion and it worked for us too. Make sure the nesting boxes are well lined and collect the eggs more often, so they don't accidently get broken as they're being laid. If all else fails, just sit and watch to see who does it and remove the culprit! Good luck!!

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), September 13, 2001.

I, like Dan, used fake eggs to break this habit. However, I use cheap plastic Easter Eggs, filled with a little dirt for weight. (Only light colored eggs) I also use them for broody hens.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), September 13, 2001.

My reference book (Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, p 257) says to trim beaks on chickens that peck and eat eggs. Make sure the chickens are getting adequate feed to satisfy their hunger and nutrient needs. The 4-H advisor says give them more to do, or give them a different kind of food. Several people, and at least 2 of my reference books, have suggested putting a curtain over the nest box to ward off curious chickens who "indulge in non-laying activity." Friends tell me to use plastic (like the 2-part Easter eggs) either filled with plaster or taped/glued together, marble, onyx, glass, or wood eggs, or golf balls in the nest to discourage pecking if I had a problem with egg pecking. Someone else told me to check and remove fresh eggs from the nest immediately (look more than once a day). Another source says she took an egg shell, blew out the contents, and filled it with a hot sauce mixture that included cayenne pepper. Last resort is to grab the little feathered fiends and "invite" them to dinner.

-- C G (glasss2001@prodigy.net), September 20, 2001.