Egg-Eating Chickens

Have you ever raced out to your chicken coop all excited about gathering fresh eggs and reached into the nesting box only to find some small eggshell shards lying in a puddle of egg goop? Yep, me, too. You have an egg eater. Yep. Me, too.

I’ve had three small flocks of chickens over the years and two egg eaters. Since the third flock is only about a month old, the jury is still out as to whether or not one of them is an egg eater. However, each of the other flocks had an egg eating chicken.

The first time around, the egg eater didn’t show its face until just after molting. Molting is pretty tough on a bird. They stop laying because their bodies need all the protein they can get to regrow feathers. A handful of high-protein kitten chow every couple of days really helps. Unfortunately, right after molting one of the birds continued craving that protein and got her fix on eggs. She wasn’t too particular which eggs she ate either. Since this was my first flock ever, I was beside myself on what to do.

For the most part, all of the books and websites I turned to advised culling the egg eater. My problem with getting rid of a hen was that we could only have a small flock. Losing a hen meant fewer eggs. Granted, we were already getting fewer eggs because of our egg eating chicken, but that’s beside the point. My other issue with getting rid of her was that this was my first flock….ever. I still viewed my chickens as pets not livestock.

Two things happened that helped me solve my problem. First, I noticed that since the molt, our eggshells were paper thin. Second, the temperature dropped to below freezing.

Up until this point I didn’t see a need for a calcium supplement like oyster shell. Eggshells were thick and hard and well-formed. After the molt, you no longer needed a candle to see inside!

However, before I could pick up some oyster shell supplement, the temperatures threatened to fall below freezing. Freezing temperatures are pretty rare in my part of Florida. I was a little concerned for my chickens. Although chickens can handle pretty cold temperatures, these girls were born and raised in Florida. After spending just one year here, my hubby and I would reach for our winter gear when the temperature hit 50°F! I was a little worried about my Floridian chickens.

Even though my Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens assured me the chickens would be fine, I also took their advice to give them a special treat before bed that would help keep them warm during cold weather: scratch grains mixed with milk. Something about the grains and milk mixture revs up their metabolism and keeps them warm all night. The cold snap lasted a few days, so they got a dish of scratch and milk every night for about a week.

The egg eating stopped.

For a while.

Then it started again.

Evidently, this particular hen was looking for extra calcium or protein or both! I had started giving the girls oyster shells, so I suspected my egg eater was looking for protein. As long as she had a dish of feed and milk or yogurt once a week, she left the eggs alone.

Unfortunately, my latest egg eater really is an unbreakable case. She’s not eating eggs because she needs something, she’s eating them to “protect” them from the other hens. She’s a lone Ameraucana in a small flock of Rhode Island Reds. The others pick on her a bit, so she eats her eggs. Only her eggs! I’ve tried moving her to a pen all her own, and the stress of solitary living was too much for her so I moved her back. I also tried moving her in with another Ameraucana and a mixed breed bird, and well, let’s just say she learned a few things from her bullying coop-mates! She moved back.

Anyway, after all of the time, effort, and research I dedicated to my egg eating chickens, I thought I’d pass along what I learned to you. Here’s a list if things that worked for me or other chickens owners who didn’t want to give up their egg-eating chicken either.

-          Add extra protein and/or calcium to their diet.

-          Isolate the egg-eating hen from the rest of the flock.

-          Place wooden or plastic eggs that the hen can’t break in the nest; thus, teaching the hen that the eggs can no longer be broken. Golf balls work, too. These shouldn’t bother the other hens because they have no problem adding more eggs to a nest that already has eggs. In fact, the fake eggs are often used to teach young hens where to lay.

-          Carefully make a small hole in one end of a fresh egg and replace the insides with an obnoxious tasting substance like mustard and pepper sauce. Then place the egg in the nest. Hopefully, the egg eater won’t like the taste.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have an egg eating chicken and try any of these ideas, please let me know how they work out for you. If you’ve ever combated egg eating before, what did you do and how did it wok out for you? Inquiring minds want to know!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

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