Egg eating Chicken

[Dragonfly1976]

this morning I went out to check for eggs and found a broken egg one chicken in the box. I cleaned up the mess went on my way. Come back out just a few minutes ago 3 chicken in coop, one is the same girl that was eating the first egg . Looks like she is waiting for the other to lay eggs then breaking them and eating it. First time this has happened. I separated her, do I need to just get rid of her. I do have fake eggs in boxes. She is about 6 years old.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

Could be caused by a calcium deficiency.

One of my aunts chickens did the same thing but I don’t think it was a calcium caused problem. She culled her in the backyard and afterwards ‘dissected’ her. There was some kind of nasty snot like goo all over her insides.

She obviously didn’t bother eating her....

 

[Dragonfly1976]

Could be caused by a calcium deficiency.

One of my aunts chickens did the same thing but I don’t think it was a calcium caused problem. She culled her in the backyard and afterwards ‘dissected’ her. There was some kind of nasty snot like goo all over her insides.

She obviously didn’t bother eating her....

Could be caused by a calcium deficiency.

One of my aunts chickens did the same thing but I don’t think it was a calcium caused problem. She culled her in the backyard and afterwards ‘dissected’ her. There was some kind of nasty snot like goo all over her insides.

She obviously didn’t bother eating her.... [/QUOTE

Could be caused by a calcium deficiency.

One of my aunts chickens did the same thing but I don’t think it was a calcium caused problem. She culled her in the backyard and afterwards ‘dissected’ her. There was some kind of nasty snot like goo all over her insides.

She obviously didn’t bother eating her....

 

[Dragonfly1976]

Wow they have calcium available at all times,

 

[SilberHenne]

One of mine ate eggs, and she had giardia as a chick, which was incredible difficult to get rid of. She never filled out like the others because giardia destroys their digestive system and makes it harder for them to absorb nutrients. We lost her to an owl and ever since we haven't found any broken eggs. It might be a good idea to deworm her.

 

[aart]

I separated her, do I need to just get rid of her. I do have fake eggs in boxes. She is about 6 years old.

Egg eating can be a lack of protein too....and can quickly become a habit hard to break.
What all and how exactly are you feeding?
Is the egg eater laying?
Separating her is a good first step, at least keeps her from having access to nests and eggs.

and she had giardia as a chick, which was incredible difficult to get rid of.

Curious, how this was diagnosed?
Had a dog with giardia, nasty stuff.

 

[SilberHenne]

Curious, how this was diagnosed?
Had a dog with giardia, nasty stuff.

We actually found out after my dog got it from eating chicken poo (my poor Newfoundland dropped to 70lbs and developed IBS before we got it sorted). One particular chicken always dropped slimy orangey goo, so we assumed she was the culprit and just dewormed everyone to be safe. She was also very skinny compared to the others. It rarely shows up on a normal fecal float but can be detected with a pathogen test.

 

[aart]

We actually found out after my dog got it from eating chicken poo

Was dog put on antibiotics?
Have read that chicken can get it from eating dog an other feces.
Might be a 'chicken and egg dog' conundrum.

 

[otoro]

one of my chickens spaz got into this for a bit. we did a variety of things afterwards to help stop it, and for the most part she's stopped.

* we added fake eggs
* we retrieve eggs quick
* we make sure laying area stays dark

One last ditch effort we didn't try was to add an eggshell back in, and put mustard all over it. apparently chickens learn quick on this because they hate the taste of mustard

every now and then she gets tempted by eggshells in the compost pile, but she looks over at us, like she knows she's not supposed to be there

 

[SilberHenne]

Was dog put on antibiotics?
Have read that chicken can get it from eating dog an other feces.
Might be a 'chicken and egg dog' conundrum.

No antibiotics. Panacur cleared it up and we just kept him and the chickens completely separate for several weeks to break the cycle. The chicken was sick when we got her from TSC, so probably got giardia from the hatchery. Luckily my other chicks never showed symptoms.