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2:01 pm
January 21, 2012
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I have been having a problem lately when I go to gather my eggs, that at least one has been eaten. What can I do to prevent this if anything?
2:25 pm
February 10, 2009
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I've only had problems with this when the shells are delicate, thin on one end or just soft. I've heard a lot of people say that this can't be corrected, but mostly mine have stopped eating them when the shells get harder. I suppose there's a hen now and then who is determined, but I've never seen that personally, doesn't mean it isn't going to happen though.
For me it's higher calcium and/or protein in the feed, and gathering the eggs more often as much as possible.
An old friend who kept chickens told me to hang a piece of cloth over the nest boxes so the boxes are dark, they can't zero in on the eggs to peck at them that way, and they don't stay in the box to peck at the eggs after they lay em.
Those are my best suggestions.
9:11 pm
August 30, 2008
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I am having the same problem, first time ever. I have been offering them milk and free feeding extra calcium. My two youngest pullets are following the others and eating the eggs as soon as they lay them. I caught them at it. This morning I hung cloth over the nest area and am hoping that will do the trick. Otherwise….. stew pot time!
9:43 pm
February 22, 2010
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Grandad always said if the hens pecked the eggs we needed to feed them oyster shells. Do people still feed oyster shells nowdays?
1:43 am
February 15, 2011
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Yes, you can get oyster shell or calcium supplement where you buy your laying mash (I think it is called that). I had a lovely picture of our banties and two pigeons flocking around the fresh oyster shell on the ground, but it failed to load and I am too sleepy to figure out how to make the picture smaller. I know I saw that information somewhere, but it failed to stick with me.
We do the supplement about every other month, just putting it on the sand in the pens, after a horrible spell of egg eating last winter. That is the only change we made.
11:00 am
February 8, 2009
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I feed oyster shell and I had a chicken who did this…nothing helped. she just went into the laying boxes as soon as a chicken came out she went after the eggs.
It might help if you make sure there is a big layer of wood shavings to lay the egg in…if that doesn't help..just get rid of them…I catch them and sent them to chicken heaven.
5:29 pm
March 2, 2011
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BuckeyeGirl said:
"I suppose there's a hen now and then who is determined, but I've never seen that personally, doesn't mean it isn't going to happen though."
I've had some determined ones! Enclosed nest boxes have helped with this batch of hens. (Our old boxes just had a lip around the edges–no sides or tops–and putting 3 sides and a roof on them helped, for whatever reason.) Now and then, I just have to get rid of a particularly determiend hen.
7:35 pm
August 30, 2008
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I have been throwing oyster shell in the feed, free feeding it, and offering them raw milk (price of eaten eggs is really going up!) I made the coop dark and was able to grab two eggs today, but one of the two bad birds got a third egg before I did. She may indeed be going to chicken heaven soon. 
9:06 pm
February 8, 2009
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I have Isa browns and leghorns, it seems that the Leghorns are more into eating eggs than the ISA browns…for next spring I only order the brown ones…
12:48 pm
January 15, 2011
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I have had this problem in the past. I have been told to put golf balls in the nests. When the hens see them and peck at them, the "eggs" will not crack. This is supposed to discourage them. It didn't help mine, though. I read online that they will do this if they are overcrowded or lacking protein. I sold some hens and changed to a different feed. I waited until everyone was adjusted. I collected eggs often. They still ate their own eggs. I ended up putting them in the freezer and starting out with a new batch. I think once the hens start doing this, there is no hope.
1:11 pm
March 4, 2010
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What we are planning to do is to make some tight roll out nest boxes so that they don't have a lot of room to move around and the eggs roll out to safety. We will collect the eggs outside of the fenced in area of the coop building. We have a walking area where we will collect them from. They will never be inside the actual coop with the chickens. The guy who made plans that we have found said that he had success with his particular roll away design. He did have to tweak it a bit from his original plan to get success, but it worked! I think that he included a baffle of some sort eventually too. I looked for the dimensions…I have them around here somewhere, but I can't find them at the moment. I think that I found my information on backyardchickens.com.
It might be worth experimenting with. We will be trying it out, because nothing else is working.
Flatlander, we found that we didn't like the chickens that we got from the hatchery this year. They are very aggressive and are mostly egg eaters to boot. We thought that they were selling the ISA browns, just under their own hatchery name. Well, we should have known better. If they are under another name, they are a cross. We have heard this disappointment from others too, who figured that they were getting ISAs. Do not just order "Browns." You could be very disappointed. We are guessing that since they look the same, that they were crossed with brown leghorns. They certainly are not nice hens to keep. They are really nasty. We also found after we picked them up that they all have crossed beak. If you wish to know where we got them from, pm me and I will let you know the name of the hatchery. I suspect that that is where you would end up getting new stock from because they do service your area, and I would caution you to stay far, far away from this breed. We only wish the ISAs were available this past year. That is truly what we were after!
We have decided that we will go with keeping Copper and some Cuckoo Marans (we love their temperament so far), and try out some Indian Runner Ducks too. We are really enjoying having ducks.
We will say good-bye to our Browns very happily, 
and won't miss them one bit! So much for going though a hatchery.
6:45 pm
December 8, 2010
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I have over 150 hens and the only way I can get them to stop in put the critter in jail! I have a special set of cages for the egg eaters and when I catch them in the jail they go until they quit. I have one girl who would get the other hens off the nest to break the eggs and eat them, so she went to jail. It works, do feed them and give them water and oyster shell still. It will only take about 3 days until they quit. Watch them to see if they are eating the ones they lay, if so, keep an eye on them and grab that egg immediately. The less access to the eggs they have the sooner they quit. I have never had to butcher one because of that.
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