Author Topic: Help...hen eating eggs... (Read 3376 times)

suomi · « **on:** March 10, 2009, 05:48:28 am »

We have 17 chickens who have been happily

laying eggs all winter, but now one of them.....and ive no idea whos guilty!!!! has started to eat the eggs!!

they all lay in pretty much the same place so unless I sit and watch...... to see whos the culprit!!! what can I do???
please...any advice welcome..

thanks...

lindy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 10, 2009, 07:53:19 am »

Hello
I have had this problem several times in the past. If they are laying in a nestbox I was advised to do this -
make it as dark as possible(put up a curtain of some sort, an old feed bag could be used
leave some china eggs in the nest box
collect eggs as often as you can
It has worked for me and the guilty hens stopped doing it.

dixie · « **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2009, 11:49:54 am »

Collect the eggs regularly but replace a couple covered in mustard, soon puts them off!

suomi · « **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:53:51 pm »

Thanks for the advice, I will make the nest boxes darker and put in a couple of golf balls.....substitute eggs!!and lets se what happens...
I have been collecting the eggs through out the morning but recently every time ive gone in theres been a cook sitting... ah this could be teh perfect time to install
"chicken web cam!" hee..hee... ill catch the culprit!!

northfifeduckling · « **Reply #4 on:** March 11, 2009, 09:27:43 am »

A friend of mine had the same problem. She had tried everything without success and they sadly had to be replaced.
If one starts it, she tends to show the others, that their own eggs are tasty grub. I hope you get no top of it!

Ross · « **Reply #5 on:** March 12, 2009, 12:42:02 am »

Hens will quite naturally clean up a broken egg- better the hens eat it than the weasels or rats get at it. If you have a hen that is actually breaking good eggs, then try putting an eggshell in the nestbox with a yolk of english mustard. This tends to work quickly and well.
Are your nestboxes smooth sided, or have they got bits of framework in the corners? This can be a cause of cracked/broken eggs, a good thick layer or straw and/or shavings and obviously enough nest boxes for the number of hens(1 box to 7 hens is the maximum). Give them Oyster shell for thicker eggshells.
Golf balls will not fool your hens, and might make them go off and find somewhere else to lay. Your feed merchant will have china eggs. A toyshop near us has brown rubber eggs that look very convincing for 50 pence!
If the problem persists after a couple of days, despite mustard etc, then you will have to identify the culprit or the others will pick up on this habit. Find the one with egg on her beak, and take the neccessary steps.
Best of luck, Ross