Nacktschnecken omlet Cube

[KittyFlash]

Blast it! I knew it! I haven't had eggs for months. I've been dishing out treats galore to entice them to lay, including hot cross buns, tomatoes and grapes. What more could a chicken wish for.

 

On a recent visit to check for the continued absence of eggs I was worried Minerva may have hurt her foot as she was hovering around the nest box acting strangely, I tried to get a look at her underneath when an egg plopped onto the floor.... at last!!... I was thrilled... but as I reached in to retrieve my yummy breakfast, Maggie darted around us both and pecked into the eggs and devoured it in front of my eyes, shell and all.

 

Hmmmmmph.

 

Is this normal?! Am I doomed to have beans on toast forever?

[beulah59]

Can you get an egg from somewhere, blow it and fill it with mustard? That might give her cause to think again!

[Lavenders_Blue]

A pot egg temptingly placed in the nest box is your other option...

[splodge88]

My chickens are eating their eggs now & they ate the MUSTARD one too we also put in a fake egg which they ignore...any more ideas?

[NatalieC]

I've had the same problem with a previous chicken and now again with one of my new young girls. Its a really hard habit to break (excuse the pun!), I tried the mustard eggs (just ate it all up!), golf balls, rubber eggs and nothing worked with my old girl (who is no longer with us).

 

With my new girls, I suspect its because they are young and their shells are a bit thin which has meant that an egg has been broke accidentally and they've greddily gobbled it up. I'm trying the limestone flour and oyster shell to try and build up their calcium levels and I'm trying to catch then laying so that I can remove eggs straight away (even if they've been broken). Things have got a bit better but I think it might be a long haul. One of the other difficulties is that Bea doesn't always use the nesting box because its already occupied and so is laying on the roosting bars by the door and, as they slope downwards) the egg is rolling out into the run and she then thinks someone has thrown her a treat!

[Christian]

Have you tried a roll away nest box?

 

http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/Rollaway_Nest_Box_Inserts.html

 

Not sure how they would work in an eglu/cube, but might be worth a try? Also, making the nesting area darker seems to help. Attach strips of dark fabric above the door to make the area darker for them?

 

Hope you get some eggs soon.

[NatalieC]

Another broken one - I even tried to separating the girls today so that I could eliminate the culprit but it didn't work! I've looked at rollaway nest boxes but they are the wrong shape for an Eglu, I even tried improvising without success. I'm so fed up!!! What I really need is a cube I think and then they would be so distracted by their new abode I might get more than one egg a day. (The cube is a bit of a sore point as I was supposed to have one for Xmas but OH got confused and thought I would like a bike better - yes, really!). In the meantime, will try the dark fabric at the door!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've got one of those roll away nest boxes. You're right, they don't really work well in an eglu but I managed to get it in by putting a brick underneath it and lashing it to the nestbox with garden wire! You could probably use something better than a brick . I didn't really need to use it in the end as the pot eggs and mustard seemed to do the trick.

[NatalieC]

Perhaps Omlet could make a custom roll away nesting box for Eglu's?