Chooks eating the eggs

[Thomzo]

Hi
Well my ex-bats have taken to eating their eggs before I can rescue them. I thought that production had dropped off when it started raining but when I cleared out the hen house last weekend I found evidence of half eaten shell etc.

The book says that it might be a sign that they aren't getting enough grit but they have grit (both types) in a bowl in the hen house so they can help themselves when they want.

Has anyone got any experience of this and found a way to stop them please?

Zoe

[ohareward]

Is it not too early for the hens to stop laying? The good book says that it is a difficult habit to break. How often do you collect the eggs? If possible it should be done 2 -3 times a day. It also says that some breeders have tried using stones shaped and coloured like eggs. The birds peck at them, can't break them, then ignore real eggs. I can remember when I was a kid one of our neighbours had chooks and they had ceramic eggs that were used to hoodwink clucky hens. Can you buy those in UK.
On a lighter side you could use Easter eggs.

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

I have this problem.

The only old girl who is still laying is laying such brittle shelled eggs that the others (and her too) just dive in and eat the egg the moment it is laid. I have spent a lot of time backwards and forwards to the hen house and hanging around in the hope of getting that egg, because it is the only one that is tasty and golden yolked (and sometims a double yolker too), but mostly I am there either too early or too late.

The young girls' eggs have really hard shells so they are never broken/eaten, but they are pale in colour and mostly small, so not as nice.

[Thomzo]

Thanks Guys.

I managed to get 4 eggs yesterday so they are still laying. 3M - yes the shells are quite fragile which is also making me think they are not getting enough grit.

I managed to rescue the 4 yesterday by popping home at lunchtime but I can't do that today unfortunately.

When I first got the hens, they started eating the eggs so, on the advice of my neighbour, I did put a couple of fake eggs into the nest boxes. It did stop them then but I guess they've got used to the fakes now.

I've been putting a handful of grit in their food so I wonder if that will help.

Zoe

[CrazyParrot]

This is quite a hard habit to break, because once they realise that eggs taste nice they will always try to eat them.

We have never experienced this problem, but a friend has. she puts clay eggs in the next box (you can buy them from most livestock stores) which the hens try to peck. Since the eggs never break, they sometimes give up pecking all eggs.

It worked for my friend, so I guess it is worth a try.

[glenniedragon]

A couple of suggestions, you can buy a rollaway nest box insert that moves the eggs out of harms way so they can't get to them. The other suggestion is a remedy that I haven't tried and that is blow an egg and replace the yummy inners with mustard or the such like so the chook think its inedible and stop doing it, but you have to rely on them eating that egg, and the mess they make with that you still have to clear up.

Good luck
Kind thoughts
Deb

[Stonehead]

I've successfuly used mustard. I made up a paste of mustard powder, flour and water, then injected this into a couple of blown eggs.

The key thing is to make sure you take all the other eggs out very quickly so the hens only find the mustard eggs. It means a couple of mornings of hanging around the chicken house, but as I had plenty of work to do in the area it worked out fine for me. Once I'd got got 15 eggs from 15 hens, I simply left the two mustard eggs for them and waited.

It didn't take long - the two main culprits went into the house, there was a bit of clucking and pecking, then lots of anguished clucking and two agitated hens came running out again wiping their beaks on everything in sight.

Three days of that and we've not had an egg eaten since.

But that's not to say they aren't up to mischief. One decided to lay her eggs in a corner of the house instead of the nest boxes so now they've all decided it's great idea to cram into that corner and all lay together - at the same time.

The joys of chickens!

[Thomzo]

Thanks for the mustard idea. I might try it at the weekend when I can hang around the hen house. My neighbour's suggestion was to trim their beaks so they can't peck the eggs but that sounds cruel.

Zoe

[flower]

perhaps you could also mix up some oyster shell into cold mashed potato?

we find that is the best way to ensure they eat it and the effect on egg shells is quite fast.

good luck

[Millymollymandy]

By sheer good luck on timing I have managed to get my big egg the last three mornings!

Thomzo how old are your hens? I wonder whether fragile shells is just a sign of old age? Mine are about 2 yrs 8 months now.

Also yesterday one of the young girls' eggs was a double yolker, and she's only been laying for 8 weeks.

[Thomzo]

Hi 3M
Mine were rescued at the end of February so that would make them about 21 months old now. I don't know if that is old in battery hen years or not.

Going to try the mustard thing this weekend.

Zoe

[ohareward]

I think here in NZ battery hens for eggs only have a productive life of 18 months, so that would make them about 24 months old when they have finished their commercial laying life.

Hi 3M. What type of chook is that in your avatar. It looks just like what I have got and they are called Brown Shavers, ( A hybrid) . They are excellent layers.

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

Just a no-name red hybrid Robin. They sell them in the markets here.

She actually looks a lot better now than in that photo as she's got a proper tail after her first moult, although one of the feathers is curled so it is quite funny looking!

[Thomzo]

I now think the problem isn't necessarily that they are eating the shells but that the shells are so weak the eggs break when they are laid. I had been putting mixed grit out for them but they didn't seem to eat it so I've now added it to their food.

I will have a go at Flower's oyster shell in potato recipe. Must add potatoes to my shopping list.

Cheers
Zoe

[Millymollymandy]

It may be when another hen goes in to lay and sits on it that the egg breaks. I have found mine sitting on a gooey mess quite a few times (but always with a sticky beak as well!).