AMO Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 (edited) Help - I dropped an egg in the run last week and the girls were very quick to eat it all up - including the shell After a week of no eggs to collect I found evidence that they are ating them in the nesting box!! Little !! Any ideas on how to stop this please? AMO NO EGGS x Edited February 6, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 If you can manage to get the contents out of an egg, it is recommended that you fill the shell with mustard. A few tastes of that is said to put them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Yup, if you can remember how to blow an egg (from my dim and distant childhood!!) then fill it with mustard or pepper or chilli or something equally not to chickens tast that should fix it! Good luck MRs Bertie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Thanks for the advice. So far, the girls have eaten two blown eggs - one filled with mustard and the other a balmy mix of mustard and pepper powder - I think they like them!! AAARRRGHHHH!! To add insult to injury I am having to buy eggs to blow and fill up for them !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenlass Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Thanks for the advice. ! To add insult to injury I am having to buy eggs to blow and fill up for them !! I'm so sorry but I couldn't help but start laughing when I read your thread, The things these chickens put us through Fancy having to buy eggs to blow to stop them eating their own Mine eat them now and again if I don't collect them quickly enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I hope they stop soon AMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura & CTB Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 What a nightmare!! My two kicked one out of the eglu yesterday and it broke - I got home to find two very eggy faces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 I have to laugh at the absurdity of it all too! The problem is I'm not at home during the day when they are laying or I could whip the eggs out before they get eaten. I'll give another couple of days with the blown eggs then I may try seperating the chooks for a few days at a time to try and see which is the ringleader. My money is on Fifi!! AMO x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xChicken04x Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 How annoying. You could put fake eggs in there, maybe they would give up if they couldn't eat the fake ones Or you could put bumpa bit's on them Good luck! xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Try putting some rubber eggs in the nest. When their beaks bounce off the eggs it might put them off? Sorry, really appalling description! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 You can get "roll away nest boxes"....but am not sure how easily you could adapt one to the Eglu. Might be worth a bit of tinkering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I don't think it would fit. Lesley had to do that when she had egg eaters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 I left a blown egg in there last night along with 2 pingpong balls and found an intact egg in the box this morning! Let's hope when I get back tonight I find a few more - those girls have a lot of making up to do! Hubby may be able to make some sort of custom rollaway to sit on top of the Egglu nestbox if it continues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Thats good news!! Hope there are more when you get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Hubby may be able to make some sort of custom rollaway to sit on top of the Egglu nestbox if it continues. Get him to patent it if it works! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little chickadee Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Good luck - I hope you manage to get some more eggs soon. My nephew nearly smashed an egg today on the bars of the run. Glad he didn't or I might have been in for the same problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted January 8, 2008 Author Share Posted January 8, 2008 Yey!! 2 whole eggs in the nest box when I came home tonight!! I think Hazel is guarding them for me!! Gotta go - Hugh is on in 2 mins AMOxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Good oh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Fab news AMO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyirons Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 once chickens get the taste for other chickens or eggs they can turn cannibal. The only way to stop it was to kill the bird or birds i'm afraid sad but true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I don't think I could kill my chook just because she eats her eggs!!! I've been putting plastic and ceramic eggs in the nest box, and so far so good, had all the eggs intact in the last four days... there are ways to sort this problem without resorting to destroying a bird, especially a well loved pet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I agree Ziggy. Amo has sorted her problem out....hasn't she? Culling would have to be absolutely the last resort, and really only the sort of step taken in a commercial establishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 Sorry - just caught up with this thread again. I did have about a week of collecting eggs but they started eating them again! I tried seperating them to see if I could catch the culprit but it looks like all of them are guilty! Today OH has made a rollaway that sits in the Egglu nesting box - I'll let you know tomorrow if it works!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Yey - the gadget that OH has made as a rollaway for the Egglu has worked!! The girls have been refusing to go in the nesting box since we put the rollaway in - they took to laying on the roosting bars and then eating the eggs Lesley has kindly lent me a traditional rollaway which they have been sitting in but not laying But, tonight, OH has just checked the Egglu and has found an intact egg under his gadget! It' a big egg too (probably Fifi) so we now know that it will work for all shapes and sizes. I feel like doing a first egg dance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Yey - the gadget that OH has made as a rollaway for the Egglu has worked!! The girls have been refusing to go in the nesting box since we put the rollaway in - they took to laying on the roosting bars and then eating the eggs Lesley has kindly lent me a traditional rollaway which they have been sitting in but not laying But, tonight, OH has just checked the Egglu and has found an intact egg under his gadget! It' a big egg too (probably Fifi) so we now know that it will work for all shapes and sizes. I feel like doing a first egg dance! Get on to the Patents Office quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
