3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[cockadoodle1]

For the last few weeks we have had an egg laid with a softer shell. Sometimes it gets broken in the nesting box but just lately I have caught one of them pecking into newly laid 'solid' eggs. this morning we have lost two perfectly good eggs. Any suggestions to stop this happening will be more than welcome.

[Olly]

Unfortunately once they've tried an egg and know how good it is, they get a taste for it and it can be hard to break.

 

The most obvious thing is to remove the eggs as soon as they are laid, but that's not always possible if, like me, you're at work during the day. There are 'rollaway' nest boxes, where the egg rolls out of sight (and out of reach) as soon as it's laid - Egluntyne has posted a thread about these recently.

 

Otherwise, old-fashioned remedies which some people swear by are to take an egg, 'blow' the contents out by making a small hole at each end, and then fill it with mustard/chilli/curry sauce or similar. Put it back in the Eglu and leave it - the taste should make them curl their beaks up and never try it again! You might have to do it more than once before they get out of the habit though. Another one is to put a 'pot' egg (china usually) in the nest box, having removed the real eggs, so they get the idea that egg-shaped things are hard and unyielding.