cathf Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Help. One of my chickens, Rose, has started eating the eggs laid by her, Daisy and Poppy. She uses her beak to tap through the shell, then eats the shell and the egg. Can anyone give me any suggestions on this as she's eating more of the eggs than we are at present!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 When I had an egg eating problem (not me personally, one of my hens) I took the advice on here to blow a couple of eggs and and refill the shell with mustard, then pop the eggs back in the nest box. It only took a couple of eggs before she gave up on the idea. If you don't want to do that, you could try a couple of pot eggs in the nest box, your hen may give up on the idea when she tries to break the eggs and nothing happens. If all else fails, you may need to invest in a rollaway nest box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I had the problem briefly with a hybrid, it started because she was laying soft eggs which are easy to eat . Then she started cracking them open to eat once she was in this habit. The trick is to break the habit asap. Collect eggs as often as you can (I even sat and waited for her to lay and whipped it away once ) I also put fake eggs in the nesting box which she'll try (and fail) to eat which will make her think twice. After that I'm afraid the bird needs to be isolated from the rest as the habit can spread to the others or a roll away box for the eggs. Some people trim beaks for this reason but I'm not a fan of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia W Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Love the idea of a roll away box for the eggs but don't think you can get them for the cube. One of my last lot of hens did eat one of the eggs but never really had a problem. My cube is on a concrete stand and so the girls can grind their own beaks down and I've often seen them sort of wiping their beaks on this concrete so perhaps they like their beaks rounded so to speak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathf Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 I like the idea of the mustard so will give that a try and see how it goes. I'll let you know in a couple of days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathf Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 Have tried 2 eggs with mustard in and one with a mix of mustard and chillie powder but she's still eating them I think we will have to separate her again for a week and see how that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 It's worth trying pot eggs too if you can . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathf Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Have separated her from the other girls and have tried golf balls and eggs filled with mustard, chillie powder and tabascoe sauce but she scoffs the lot!! Am a bit unsure what to try now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtheplumber Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I used to tobasco and mustard the tobasco was the most successful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
