Poor layers eggs are eaten while laying

[Anonymous]

I only have 3, 1 year old hens (speckled hen, blubell and road island red) The bluebell has always been a bad layer and has mishapen eggs (elongated). I've just found the other two eating her egg while laying, but this seems to have damaged her as there was an amount of blood and she's now off her food. Any advice would be welcome.

 

[Tim]

If there is bood, you need to separate her from the others immediately. They will be attracted to red and can cause no end of damage in a short space of time.

Ideally, a vet should see the bird - If the damage is superficial and she is likely to recover from it, the area needs to be kept really clean (flushed with Saline solution is one way to do this). They may prescribe an antibiotic to kill off bacterial infection.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for your reply, unfortunately, once I'd tracked her down she was in a sad state and I had to put her down.......I will know better next time

 

[Tim]

Oh so sorry to hear that, it's always sad losing a hen

It does mean that you still have egg eaters - this is a difficult vice to cure but you can try making the nestboxes as dark as possible - hanging a cloth over part of the entrance for example, leaving Golf balls or dummy eggs scattered around the floor / nests and collecting eggs as soon as you can. If that fails, blow an egg and stuff it with a curry powder mixture which will hopefully put them off.

Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

good advice, I'll watch out for eaten eggs and sort ASAP, thanks