One of my chickens seems have begun eating her companion's egg. The culprit started when her companion laid eggs with fragile shells, so I have increased the calcium by feeding oyster shell, limestone flour, yoghurt and milk at various times and the shells are hardening. I've placed golf balls in the nest and also a shell filled with mustard as a deterrent and I seem to spend a lot of time waiting around for laying to finish. I lost a chicken last September and now I only have the two. Could they just be bored and missing the stimulus of a flock? I would like to get a couple more chickens but as this is learned behaviour, could I just end up with a flock of egg eaters? I would appreciate some help.
egg eating
- Thread starter frances p
- Start date
chrismahon
Well-known member
Egg eating is a difficult thing to cure and we had one that laid her egg and ate it immediately. It does, as you say, start with a soft shelled egg or a broken one. Very difficult to cure and one hen will trigger all the others. We put pot eggs in the nest boxes and curtains on the boxes so the eggs are not in full view. So far, apart from the aforementioned, we have stopped problems. I have observed a hen tapping her egg with her beak to make sure the shell is sound. She actually punched a hole in the egg and then left it, but at that point could have got the taste. We upped the calcium intake temporarily as well (layers pellets have enough normally) and the shells thickened and problem went. But it can also be due to a lack of sunlight. We had a bluebell that lived in the coop and laid soft shelled eggs. Letting her outside more often improved things considerably.
So Francés P, i would say stopping the egg eating is a priority before introducing new birds. Apart from increasing Calcium they may need more stimulus but not by adding more birds. Do they get greens, grass or cabbage, have they a perch in the run, is the run big enough, do they get scattered mixed corn as a treat?
So Francés P, i would say stopping the egg eating is a priority before introducing new birds. Apart from increasing Calcium they may need more stimulus but not by adding more birds. Do they get greens, grass or cabbage, have they a perch in the run, is the run big enough, do they get scattered mixed corn as a treat?
All good advice from Chris, but I just wondered how old your birds are, and what breed, Frances? If they're hybrid layers and are more than 2-3 years old, and have been laying heavily in the first years, then its inevitable that shell quality will begin to deteriorate as they approach the end of their laying days. Calcium uptake is complex in hens, and although you've been doing all the right things to help, its difficult to provide all the extra thy need in a form they can actually take up and use. They may be helped by a mineral- based supplement such as the one Nettex produce, which has other elements as well as calcium, such as probiotics and seaweed, which I've found very good. See http://www.nettexpoultry.co.uk/prod_desc_4389.html?sno=298
My hens are hybrid Maran or speckledy and they are about two and a half years old. They have given me eggs every day even through the winter. The one who started the egg eating had three weeks off and grew some new feathers but the one with the soft shells has just carried on laying. She has been in some sort of moult for months and still has bald patches. She looks neglected and underfed, although she is the boss and gets all the first choice of food. She laid and ate her own egg this morning much to my dismay. I will get some of the mineral based supplement and see if it helps. They have plenty of room to roam and scratch around, a perch on the low branch of the apple tree, and logs to climb over. Sometimes I let them have a forage around the garden even if they make a mess. Perhaps all this dull weather has not helped and now the sun is back they might improve. Thank you for your advice. I'll let you know how I get on.
chrismahon
Well-known member
Think Marigold has hit the nail on the head Frances P. The hybrids have burned out, as they are designed to do. Hens have about 600 eggs in them and they either produce them in a short burst or over a longer period. At the end of lay they will produce thin shelled eggs and then none. Normally, in the Commercial world they came from, they will only live 18 months before being culled and replaced with fresh stock. So if you have had an egg every day for their laying life you've had 700 and done well. Pedigree hens will produce far less per year but can lay to an old age. We have 6 year olds still laying 50 a year.
It sounds as if you are at the point where you need to decide whether to keep these two on as pensioner pets, in which case it would be possible to get a couple more to revitalise the flock and give you some strong eggs. But if you do this is would perhaps be a good idea to divide the run and provide them with a separate coop, so they don't learn the egg eating from the older birds. Or perhaps you might call time on the older ones and start afresh with a new batch altogether?
I usually try to get a couple of new birds every year, as some of the older ones drop off the far end, as it were. Then there are younger girls coming up behind to keep me in eggs and they don't all get unproductive at the same time.
I usually try to get a couple of new birds every year, as some of the older ones drop off the far end, as it were. Then there are younger girls coming up behind to keep me in eggs and they don't all get unproductive at the same time.
