Hen Eating Other Eggs But Not Her Own?

[HappyFeetHens]

One of my hens is laying pretty consistently through this crazy bout of weather. Yesterday, I found another egg from her (can tell by the color; she’s a leghorn and my others are RIRs) and then I found two broken egg shells in the other next box. They were completely crushed but not much liquid next to them so they had clearly been eaten. I found yolk on the leghorn’s face.

Any idea why she eats their eggs but not hers? And does breaking the habit work the same as if she ate her own?

I’ve broken some of eating their eggs before but it’s just very odd that she saves hers and I am wondering if it will be more difficult to break her of it.

 

[chickens really]

Try separating her or collect your eggs earlier in the day. Roll away nest boxes might be needed..

 

[Mosey2003]

The other hens may be laying thin shelled eggs and stepping on them. Any open egg is gonna get eaten, period. It could be that the other hens haven't noticed that they're doing it, but your Leghorn has learned there's a treat available so goes and checks. Or, she may have learned to break them herself and hasn't necessarily decided white eggs are edible, while brown ones are.

There are a few considerations for egg eating. First, do they have ample clean, unfrozen water at all times? Lack of water will cause it pretty quickly. Second, what are they eating? If it's 16% layer and especially if you're adding treats that aren't high protein (meat and eggs), right there could be the main problem. Personally, I like at least 18% protein feed and no fruit/veg/bread/scratch grains. With an active egg eater, you want to tighten this up at least for now.

Roll away nest boxes, of course, will solve the problem, but it's not necessarily solving it at its source.

What I would do, if you're SURE it's only the Leghorn eating them, is pen her up alone. Give her ample clean water and very high protein feed for a week. Something like at least 18% layer if you can find it, or an All Flock. Give her a dish full of oyster shell and a dish full of grit. And maybe even add some additional protein in the way of wet cat food or extra mealworms. After a week, let her loose and see if the problem happens again.