hen eating eggs

[hillshouse]

Hi, This is my first post and I need help. I am pretty sure one or 2 of my hens is eating the eggs. I have put oyster shell stuff but I still find parts of egg shells in the nest boxes. What else can I do? Thanks. hillshouse

 

[Wes in Tx]

Take an egg and blow out the insides then feel it up with hot sauce and mustard. Seal the holes good and then put that egg in the nest and let the egg eater have at it. May have to do this a couple times but 90% of the time this will break them of the habit.

 

[V Chic Chick]

Apparently (not that I would want to contradict the great Wes

) chickens don't have a great sense of taste, so the above treatment doesn't work. Apparently putting golf balls in the nestbox works as they are just hard enough to kind of semi-stun the bird when they peck at them - you can kind of see them thinking 'ouch, what just happened' after they have pecked one.

Doing both methods at once won't harm, and BTW it's easier to blow eggs once they have got to at least a week old.

 

[Wes in Tx]

Well evidently VCC you have never broken a chicken from eating eggs. Asked CC how it works.

 

[hillshouse]

Thanks for the help. I will try both suggestions. I was getting so mad at the hens. I kept telling them the frying pan was their next nest. They kept saying, "I'm to cute to eat."

 

[54Belair]

Tobasco and mustard.
Ouch who would have thunk it.
I know chickens fairly well and I never heard that one.
I got several egg eatin hens and short of the stew pot, its worth a try.

 

[horselover]

I have hens that eat the eggs in the nest, too. Did any of you try these suggestions?. Let me know if so. I hate not getting any eggs and the hens are eating them. My hens are kept housed and never turned out. I don't like that, but the foxes are too plentiful around here and I cannot make a decent fence for them to run in during the day. I would appreciate knowing what success you all had. Thanks, Joyce

 

[FrankBlissett]

I don't have any further suggestion as to breaking the habit.

If you decide to cull said hen, though, make sure you've got the right one. There's a sports saying that the ref always catches the second foul - sometimes it's the same with hens, all of whome will eat a broken egg whether they broke it or not.

-Frank

 

[bigzio]

If you darken the nests, by hanging some material over the opening, that will sometimes work. If it is darker in there the hens don't seem to bother the layed eggs.
I cut a slit in the middle and the hens walk through with no problems.

Sometimes if your hens aren't getting enough protein, they will start to eat eggs.
Give them some dry cat food to increase the amount of protein in the diet, and that can help also.

bigzio

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:
Frank, excellent point! All my girls will eat the eggs if they are broken open, so I can see how one hen could be at the wrong place a the wrong time.