I've had chickens for about 3 years now, and I've occasionally had some of them eat eggs. I have 2 separate flocks, one that I started 3 years ago and one that I started last year.
In the older flock I have two roosters. Both roosters began eating eggs when they reached their mostly full adult size. My husband wanted to cull them immediately but since my chickens are my pets, I put it off and did what I could to keep them from getting to the eggs. They're both such good boys and I'm very attached. I figured out that they outgrew their feeders and couldn't put their large-combed heads inside anymore. Once I changed out the feeders, the egg eating stopped immediately. Over the last 3 years the only time they've gotten into the eggs again is when there's a problem with feed, which has been very rare, and when that happens they encourage the hens to eat the eggs as well, who also leave the eggs alone outside of a major feed issue (we had a problem with a moldy bag in which all the gross crusty evidence was only in the bottom so it took us awhile to realize why the feeders weren't really emptying).
My new flock was eating eggs recently... all of the hens, shell and all. It went on for a couple of weeks and I was reminded of the feed issues with the first flock but couldn't find anything wrong with it. I finally realized they hadn't really ever depleted their oyster shell since they started laying, I was just dumping it all out occasionally to give them fresh. I decided to try a new brand and THEY ATE SO MUCH! They ate about a quart-sized feeder per day for a week. Now they're laying 3x the eggs and they aren't eating a single one. I feel terrible for not noticing sooner.
Has anyone else experienced an egg eating solution like these? I love the theory that we can give some of these birds the benefit of the doubt that maybe some of them are just doing it because they're being bullied away from food or calcium (or both), or that there's an easy to solve issue at hand rather than having to cull.
In the older flock I have two roosters. Both roosters began eating eggs when they reached their mostly full adult size. My husband wanted to cull them immediately but since my chickens are my pets, I put it off and did what I could to keep them from getting to the eggs. They're both such good boys and I'm very attached. I figured out that they outgrew their feeders and couldn't put their large-combed heads inside anymore. Once I changed out the feeders, the egg eating stopped immediately. Over the last 3 years the only time they've gotten into the eggs again is when there's a problem with feed, which has been very rare, and when that happens they encourage the hens to eat the eggs as well, who also leave the eggs alone outside of a major feed issue (we had a problem with a moldy bag in which all the gross crusty evidence was only in the bottom so it took us awhile to realize why the feeders weren't really emptying).
My new flock was eating eggs recently... all of the hens, shell and all. It went on for a couple of weeks and I was reminded of the feed issues with the first flock but couldn't find anything wrong with it. I finally realized they hadn't really ever depleted their oyster shell since they started laying, I was just dumping it all out occasionally to give them fresh. I decided to try a new brand and THEY ATE SO MUCH! They ate about a quart-sized feeder per day for a week. Now they're laying 3x the eggs and they aren't eating a single one. I feel terrible for not noticing sooner.
Has anyone else experienced an egg eating solution like these? I love the theory that we can give some of these birds the benefit of the doubt that maybe some of them are just doing it because they're being bullied away from food or calcium (or both), or that there's an easy to solve issue at hand rather than having to cull.
