pullets eating eggs ?????

[confused]

I have 3 bantam pullets, who have just started to lay , they are kept in a run 6ft x4ft with a 4ft by 2ft6ins house with a nest box on the side ,they only used the nest box once despite me leaving dummy eggs in the nest box , now as i guessed they have started eating the eggs ,despite my best efforts to collect the eggs just after they lay ??? anyone any ideas ,today i filled an egg with mustard and chilli powder ? They ate it!!! am i best to put them in the oven ?

[red]

its a bad habit.. and difficult to break. try hotter chili.. or maybe invest in a china egg or two?

you need to make the nest boxes more appealing.. and what they like is dark - is there a way you can make them darker?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

It is rather depressing when hens start eating eggs and it can be a bugger to stop.

The two most common reasons for egg-eating are some (often unsuspected) deficiency in diet or bored chickens.

If it is diet then most often it is a deficiency of either protein or minerals. Protein can be rebalanced by adding oats plus crushed dried pigeon peas or sunflower seeds to their ration. For the minerals ground oyster shell is always good.

To counter boredom, giving them some extra greens to toy with - grass, cabbage, dandelion, that sort of thing - often helps. Keeping the nest box as dark as possible by reducing the size of the entrance to the absolute minimum I have found to be very effective.

Hope this helps.

[Thomzo]

I have had some success with mustard and chilli eggs in the past but the best success was, as Red said, by making the nesting boxes more appealing. A nice thick layer of sawdust and a high threshold into the box to stop them scratching the sawdust out and to give them more privacy.

When I have given mustard eggs then they all tried them but gave up after a few mouthfulls. I wonder if yours all had a go and then didn't like it?

I gather, though, that some breeds of bantam can have a habit of laying just anywhere. My black pekin is a very good girl and always lays in the nest box but my neighbour's light sussex isn't interested.

Good luck
Zoe

[confused]

Thanks for the help ,i'll try and see what i can do to darken the nest box , if they had been using the nest box i had thought on making a sloped bottom /roll away , but that means i cant put shavings/hay in the bottom, diet? i think they are well fed ,wheat,layers pellets,rolled oats, + a handfull of mixed corn to scratch for, also each day they get the spillage/husks from my 40 odd budgies to pick through ! i thought they were at the Ritz! i give them apples ,grass, i've even hung a cabbage up for them to pick at , i reckon they are just like the youth of today ungratefull !!!! any more tips gratefully recieved

[red]

sometimes - if you get an egg eater.. and can work out which one.. best to be rid ...

[davisaurus]

Hi there.

I just joined the group today, and so far find it to be quite interesting and informative. I have also been raising chickens for about 7 years now. I started out with regular mutant chickens that you buy from feed stores, but have started to breed Brahmas and hope to have one or two heritage breeds in by spring.

In the seven years I have twice had chickens eating eggs, despite the fact they rarely use the nesting box. (They lay them in the treehouse, under the nesting boxes, in the hay loft, it is like Easter every morning.) In both situations the problem was diet, most specifically nutrients from egg shells. I generally have between 20 and 30 birds, so it took about 2kg of crushed oyster shells over about a week and they all stopped pecking eggs.

Generally, I try to get a bag for winter, the rest of the year we generally have clams or oysters once a month or so. I also give them back their crushed egg shells in with scraps. Just rinse the shell and give it back to them. Many people think that gives them a taste for eggs, but I have never had a problem with any of them eating eggs except for those two times, which as I mentioned were quickly fixed with crushed oyster shells.

[Thomzo]

That's a good point. Both times I had problems with egg eating, the shells were very thin. If the shells are nice and thick they find it difficult to break them. You can also try trimming their beaks (bit controversial but all my ex-bats have come with ready trimmed beaks and it doesn't seem to be a problem for them). Or you can buy little plastic beak "bumpers" which stop them pecking the eggs. I've never tried them but my poulty book recommended them.

Zoe

[confused]

Plenty food for thought ,will give things a try,it seems a shame to rear them to now and not get the beifits .