Egg Eater Scenario

[BackAcre]

Hello All,
Well, what a sad situation I have. I just rebuilt my laying flock over the past year, and all my young pullets had just gotten into the groove of laying regularly and we were overflowing with eggs. Then, we went on vacation last week, and since arriving home I have been getting reduced numbers of eggs. Then the person who had been checking the hens for me while I was gone (we have a very self sufficient set up as far as food/water/door opening system) told me that they only collected eggs once. And, they also collected all the dummy eggs I have in the nest boxes as well. You guessed it, the hens started eating the eggs. It's not my first rodeo with egg eaters but I am very sad because I JUST got this flock raised to laying and now I have a flock that is less than a year old - are they useless? I am wondering if because they only have been doing this behavior for a week would interventions work? A guessing game I know. I have been trying to collect more often, but I work outside the home through the day. Today I saw a hen I the nest box and I hung around, but by the time I saw her leave the nest box and went to check, it was already too late, they had gotten to it instantly. I don't have rollaway boxes but have been looking into them. I am willing to try, they just don't seem like the egg rolls down right away and it appears like the hens are very quick to get there after someone lays. I found 2 dummy eggs to put in the nest and have ordered more (since mine have gone missing). I am also going to try the mustard egg trick. Does separating them and giving them mustard eggs maybe teach them not to and I could reintegrate them back together? All of these are shots in the dark but I hate the thought that I just grew them out to laying and a month later it is useless so looking for any insight others may have.

 

[nuthatched]

Blow out and fill some eggs with orange dish soap, it quickly puts an end to it.
Also, a balanced diet is essential to help prevent it, what's their diet?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I have been feeding raw eggs with the shells cracked right in front of them to my chickens for years and have never had issues with them eating the eggs before I get to them. Chickens need protein…they will crave it. If their bodies need more protein and they know that eggs provide it they will start egg eating on their own. I allow my chickens to free range on 30 acres of legumes, grasses, berries, orchards and gardens. After watching them for years have their choice pick of virtually any of it I have observed that their choice food is always bugs, snakes, frogs, lizards, crayfish, mice and even larger animal carcasses. My husband shot a coyote that was stalking the chickens and guess what? The chickens picked its carcass clean. My chickens do not destroy my gardens or fruit and barely touch the grass. They go after the highest protein sources. For their feed which they have access to 24/7 it is a 20% flock raiser and in the winter I mix in a 22% game bird. I do not feed scratch or treats that are starchy or carbs. If they get a treat it is fish, raw eggs with the shells or leftover meat carcasses that they pick clean. I do not have the health issues that many people seem to have in their flocks. Now to sum it all up- I am not saying that you need to free range or any of that. I am simply saying that after years of observing chickens when given the choice to truly choose what they eat most of the time it will be pure protein food sources. They need more protein than what lower protein commercial feeds provide.

 

[BackAcre]

Blow out and fill some eggs with orange dish soap, it quickly puts an end to it.
Also, a balanced diet is essential to help prevent it, what's their diet?

Thank you for this! I tried the mustard eggs this morning and while they all came RUNNING when they saw me put eggs in the nest, and they did peck them and bust them, they also walked away from them after they got a taste of the mustard (one or two went back to try and pull pieces of shell off but overall they left the destroyed eggs alone rather than cleaning up every scrap). It made me think if I go buy some cartons of eggs and keep replenishing their nests with yucky filled eggs often enough they may quit the behavior. Their diet is good - I have never had an issue with them doing this before I left and they were left with dozens of eggs in their nest boxes for almost the whole week. One thing I did consider is that I also feed my chickens scraps of, well, everything, as well as throwing extra corn, sunflower seeds and meal worms on the ground outside for them to graze on, and all those extras didn't happen last week while I was gone and someone was looking in on them. I am going to try the dish soap idea!

 

[BackAcre]

I have been feeding raw eggs with the shells cracked right in front of them to my chickens for years and have never had issues with them eating the eggs before I get to them. Chickens need protein…they will crave it. If their bodies need more protein and they know that eggs provide it they will start egg eating on their own. I allow my chickens to free range on 30 acres of legumes, grasses, berries, orchards and gardens. After watching them for years have their choice pick of virtually any of it I have observed that their choice food is always bugs, snakes, frogs, lizards, crayfish, mice and even larger animal carcasses. My husband shot a coyote that was stalking the chickens and guess what? The chickens picked its carcass clean. My chickens do not destroy my gardens or fruit and barely touch the grass. They go after the highest protein sources. For their feed which they have access to 24/7 it is a 20% flock raiser and in the winter I mix in a 22% game bird. I do not feed scratch or treats that are starchy or carbs. If they get a treat it is fish, raw eggs with the shells or leftover meat carcasses that they pick clean. I do not have the health issues that many people seem to have in their flocks. Now to sum it all up- I am not saying that you need to free range or any of that. I am simply saying that after years of observing chickens when given the choice to truly choose what they eat most of the time it will be pure protein food sources. They need more protein than what lower protein commercial feeds provide.

Thank you for the idea! My hens have never had a problem with this before, and they eat REALLY well - I have had some locals actually ask me for my feeding routine because I have fat, happy hens. I do wonder if them not getting all the 'extras' last week while I was gone had some influence but I think overall it was the sheer volume of eggs that got left in the nest boxes for too long that inspired them to try. In the warmer months we also like to let our hens out to free range while we are outside, but since we have eagles, owls, and foxes/coyotes (the two groups take turns rotating through the area, when one moves in the other moves out and vice versa) we can only do that when we are out with them. They have a really big run and I put down scraps, cracked corn, BOSS and dried meal worms most morning just for 'enrichment', to keep them occupied scratching around. I do like your idea of a high protein source though - I may have to go heavy on the protein and branch out from scraps for a bit to see if I can get them back. Our hens are our pets, and we don't cull, but they are not even a year old yet so it irritates me to have a flock we are feeding (very well, I might add) and having no eggs in return with many years ahead of us!

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you for this! I tried the mustard eggs this morning and while they all came RUNNING when they saw me put eggs in the nest, and they did peck them and bust them, they also walked away from them after they got a taste of the mustard (one or two went back to try and pull pieces of shell off but overall they left the destroyed eggs alone rather than cleaning up every scrap). It made me think if I go buy some cartons of eggs and keep replenishing their nests with yucky filled eggs often enough they may quit the behavior. Their diet is good - I have never had an issue with them doing this before I left and they were left with dozens of eggs in their nest boxes for almost the whole week. One thing I did consider is that I also feed my chickens scraps of, well, everything, as well as throwing extra corn, sunflower seeds and meal worms on the ground outside for them to graze on, and all those extras didn't happen last week while I was gone and someone was looking in on them. I am going to try the dish soap idea!

Thank you for the idea! My hens have never had a problem with this before, and they eat REALLY well - I have had some locals actually ask me for my feeding routine because I have fat, happy hens. I do wonder if them not getting all the 'extras' last week while I was gone had some influence but I think overall it was the sheer volume of eggs that got left in the nest boxes for too long that inspired them to try. In the warmer months we also like to let our hens out to free range while we are outside, but since we have eagles, owls, and foxes/coyotes (the two groups take turns rotating through the area, when one moves in the other moves out and vice versa) we can only do that when we are out with them. They have a really big run and I put down scraps, cracked corn, BOSS and dried meal worms most morning just for 'enrichment', to keep them occupied scratching around. I do like your idea of a high protein source though - I may have to go heavy on the protein and branch out from scraps for a bit to see if I can get them back. Our hens are our pets, and we don't cull, but they are not even a year old yet so it irritates me to have a flock we are feeding (very well, I might add) and having no eggs in return with many years ahead of us!

Cut back on all the scraps, corn, boss, worms, etc. Those are treats, high fat, high carb but low nutrition. it's like keeping a bowl of ding dongs and cheetos out in a room of kids.
Chickens don't like change, they may have not liked someone else taking care of them.

 

[BackAcre]

Cut back on all the scraps, corn, boss, worms, etc. Those are treats, high fat, high carb but low nutrition. it's like keeping a bowl of ding dongs and cheetos out in a room of kids.
Chickens don't like change, they may have not liked someone else taking care of them.

I hope you are right and they come around. They seem very keen on the eggs though so I hope it isn't too late even if it hasn't been very long. I tried one of the other suggestions of eggs filled with dish soap and that seemed to have an instant turn off effect on them, so I will keep at it.