Hen ate her 1st egg, can I retrain her?

[Sinadrea]

Hello,
Well today I went out to give the chickens some treats and checked the brooder box and saw a broken brown egg in it. Upon further inspection, I noticed my Wyandotte was eating a section of it. My sister in law says it's impossible to get them to stop with this habit. Is it too late?

 

[aart]

Hello,
Well today I went out to give the chickens some treats and checked the brooder box and saw a broken brown egg in it. Upon further inspection, I noticed my Wyandotte was eating a section of it. My sister in law says it's impossible to get them to stop with this habit. Is it too late?

Was the remaining shell good and hard?
Sometimes new layers have weak shells, they can crack as they fall out of the bird and hit a hard surface/corner in the nest. A broken egg is fair game for them eating it. A newly laying pullet can also peck an egg out of 'curiosity'.

Is she your only new layer....and do you have other older birds?

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[Daisy June]

When my four girls were not yet laying, I went through the same thing, and I was able to stop the behavior right away. Here are the steps I took:
1. I immediately scrambled up some eggs and sprinkled them with crushed egg shells to make sure all eggs layed had strong shells.
2. I waited and watched as each laying chicken went into the box and back out again. I immediately got each and every egg out.
3. I collected a handful of golf balls (which my neighbor hits into our yard regularly lol) and placed a couple in each of our three nesting boxes.
*At the point this was happening, the young ones were just past 20 weeks, so they had started layer feed. It was a curious time for them, but we got through it in just a week. I did continue collecting immediately for another week, and we have not had a problem since.

 

[Sinadrea]

This would be the 1st egg she's laid, so she is new but we have older chickens sharing the coop. The shell seemed thin but could have stayed intact.

They are eating layer pellets from bomgaars, I don't remember the brand but it's a yellow bag. I also give them a mixture of oyster shells and crushed eggshells. I give them scratch and soldier fly larva 2x a day. Also scraps once a day.

If an egg is broken, do you throw it away immediately?

 

[FrostRanger]

I agree with aart, the egg was likely just thin shelled and broke which is a fairly common glitch for a new layer. Just make sure she has oyster shell available and is getting enough protein from her feed and it should sort itself out

 

[Sinadrea]

When my four girls were not yet laying, I went through the same thing, and I was able to stop the behavior right away. Here are the steps I took:
1. I immediately scrambled up some eggs and sprinkled them with crushed egg shells to make sure all eggs layed had strong shells.
2. I waited and watched as each laying chicken went into the box and back out again. I immediately got each and every egg out.
3. I collected a handful of golf balls (which my neighbor hits into our yard regularly lol) and placed a couple in each of our three nesting boxes.
*At the point this was happening, the young ones were just past 20 weeks, so they had started layer feed. It was a curious time for them, but we got through it in just a week. I did continue collecting immediately for another week, and we have not had a problem since.

Thank you,
I will give them scrambled eggs with shell for lunch and will keep an eye when I'm home. I will have to invest in more fake eggs as I don't have any golf balls on hand.
Btw, my Wyandotte is named Daisy

 

[Sinadrea]

I agree with aart, the egg was likely just thin shelled and broke which is a fairly common glitch for a new layer. Just make sure she has oyster shell available and is getting enough protein from her feed and it should sort itself out

Thanks, I wanted to avoid killing her.

 

[User690263]

Thank you,
I will give them scrambled eggs with shell for lunch and will keep an eye when I'm home. I will have to invest in more fake eggs as I don't have any golf balls on hand.
Btw, my Wyandotte is named Daisy

That's a cute name

 

[FrostRanger]

This would be the 1st egg she's laid, so she is new but we have older chickens sharing the coop. The shell seemed thin but could have stayed intact.

They are eating layer pellets from bomgaars, I don't remember the brand but it's a yellow bag. I also give them a mixture of oyster shells and crushed eggshells. I give them scratch and soldier fly larva 2x a day. Also scraps once a day.

If an egg is broken, do you throw it away immediately?

I would cut out the scratch and soldier fly larvae as all the extras may be reducing the amount of protein they're getting as layer feed often has the absolute bare minimum amount of protein. While it's not the issue here I think (again, I am pretty sure your pullet just had a thin shelled egg that broke when she laid it) too little protein can be a major cause of egg eating. That is one reason why many of us feed all flock rather than layer feed as it usually has 20% protein rather than the 16% layer usually has

 

[Daisy June]

Thank you,
I will give them scrambled eggs with shell for lunch and will keep an eye when I'm home. I will have to invest in more fake eggs as I don't have any golf balls on hand.
Btw, my Wyandotte is named Daisy

Sweet. My father gave me this nickname when I was 3 yo, and it has stuck. I am now in my sixties and my siblings, aunts, uncles, and oldest friends still call me Daisy.