Hens eating their EGGS!!! Help!

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I have a pair of Salmon Favorelles, they are eating every egg that they lay. As soon as she lays it, she immediately pecks it and her and Abe, the Favorelle rooster, run over and gobble it up. I have watched her lay and went right in the pen to retrieve the egg and they beat me to it. Also I have a Leghorn rooster and a pair of Leghorn hens together and the same thing is happening. I watched one of the hens getting ready to lay today and the rooster was sitting on the roost right behind he waiting on the egg. As soon as it dropped, my husband went straight in to get the egg, but the hen had already pecked it and cracked it. We were able to get it before they ate it, but I don't know what to do about this! We are not getting any eggs from these two groups of birds. We have the oyster shells in their pen. I need advice on how to stop this. I have personally watched every one of these 5 birds eat the eggs. It's not just one or two! Help!
Thank you,
Brooke
 
Egg eating like that is a very difficult habit to break.

You could install roll away nest boxes/inserts, or leave a pot egg (or golf ball) in the nest boxes for them to peck (unsuccessfully) at. but some people say the only way to cure egg eating is to eat the egg eater :(
 
That is bad news. :-)06

I would try lowering their feed quantity to slow/stop laying and put a load of ceramic/plastic eggs in for a while. And in my best "Chickeneees" tell them they're food or off down the market if they don't pack it in :-)07 :-)04

jmho
 
I managed to stop my egg eating cockerel by filling inside of an egg with mustard - he was very upset and has never done it again--that was over a year ago.Ros
 
Yes, it's a difficult habit to break - but it is not impossible!

You said you rushed in to collect the egg - are they not laying in the nestboxes? If not, I would tackle this first - make them dark and private, hang an old feed bag over part of the entrance to help keep them dark, place dummy eggs or golf balls into the nests to help them think 'this is a good place to lay'. Restrict their free range until they get the hang of this.

I would add lots of dummy eggs golf balls but also try a mustard filled egg as suggested already. Blow a few eggs and you should find it easy to make up a sloppy mixture that can fill the egg. A syringe is useful for filling the eggs. Finally, collect real eggs as quickly as you can, several times per day.

You will find the dark nest boxes will be a great help and if there are several eggs to peck at and one or two that taste bad, there should be some improvements...

Good Luck!
 
Some great suggesions by all, I had an egg eater so I made hot chilli & mustard eggs, the hen ate the lot! Hope you sort the problem out soon.
 
and don't think you're alone ... we ave an egg-eating ex battery hen who has taught the rest the bad habit!
we are trying most of the methods mentioned above, and during the great refurbishment plan I want to build roll away nest boxes *now, where to find plans for them??!*
 
my black rock rocket will wait for my bluebell tululla to lay an egg and eat that. never eats any fo the others eggs she will even lay her egg nex to her so she can get in there quick if they lay at same time
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions! Since posting, we have been able to retrieve 3 of our salmon Favorelle eggs. We placed them under our banty cochin hen that loves sitting eggs. So excited! And yes we do have nest boxes, that is where the hen had already pecked and cracked the egg, but darkening the nest boxes is something we are going to try. Also the old golfballs sounds like a great idea! Thanks everyone!
 
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