Chickens are eating their own eggs?

[gardenjoinery]

All right, this is totally my fault. I was washing the shells and crushing them, but apparently not quite enough, and clearly they are feeling a little depleted. I think the shells are getting a little soft so one must have broken in the nest box, and they definitely ate it. I am getting more oyster shells and fresh bedding today, and I cleaned the boxes thoroughly. So, if I stop giving them egg shells, keep up with the oyster shells and clean bedding in the boxes (the boxes were clean but I think they had kicked out the bedding mostly), will they stop doing this?

[MoniDew]

To be honest, I don't know nothin' about nothin' about birds! Can't help chipping in my two cents' worth in spite of the fact, though! :rolleyes: Lucky you! :D

It sure sounds like they are in need of a calcium source. If oyster shells are what you use, then use that!

Perhaps eating their own eggs is somehow related to an instinct to these chickens. Perhaps it is a way of eliminating non-viable young. A dog won't nurse a puppy it considers non-viable, for example. Also, I've seen animals give birth, then eat the placentas, as a way to recover some of the strength expended in the birth process. Perhaps they are trying to recover a lost resource. Some instinct is at work here, I believe. It's just a matter of figuring out which one, and what they really need.

I'll leave that to the true chicken experts on the boards.

We now return to our previously scheduled programming....:o

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

Ok, here is an area where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

Once chickens discover that their eggs are edible, you may have a real problem on your hands.

Nest boxes should be in the darkest area of your coop/run. They should be above eye level, so curious and bored chickens do not peck at them from boredom and accidentally get into them.

Damage control has to be quick, or you will lose many of your eggs in the future. This is a very tough habit to break.

Take black trash bags and cut verticle strips and cover your nest box openings with them. Hens will go in and out, but won't be able to look at their eggs.. out of sight, hopefully, out of mind.

You are doing the right thing by boosting with oyster shells, but calcium will take awhile to show in the egg shells. Also, it's a very bad idea to feed egg shells back to chickens, unless they are crunched up beyond all recognition first.

I don't fool at all with egg eating chickens... had a rooster start doing that and he was gone the next day.

Also, put ping pong balls in the boxes or on the coop floor, add wooden decoy eggs if you have them. Chickens will peck at these and when they don't break open, will eventually lose interest out of frustration.

There are new ceramic decoy eggs which are brown or white and look exactly like a real egg, even have a semi mat surface texture...
http://www.eggcartons.com/product-exec/product_id/109/nm/Ceramic_Chicken_Eggs_CE

Everyone should have these ceramic nest eggs, they are good for showing your hens where you want them to lay and because the hens cannot peck into them, they figure out that eggs are NOT food for them.

Buy then now, save your egg supply. Tell them at Egg Cartons . Com that Fred from Fred's Fine Fowl sent you... they are awesome people!

Best of luck...

Fred

www.FredsFineFowl.com