I have hens that are about a year old and I have a problem with them breaking the eggs as soon as they lay them... I feed them poultry grain and grit. Thank you!

-- Mary Ann Reed (phranch@fidnet.com), March 11, 2001

Answers

You chooks are Lacking calcium, oyster shell, lime, and carrion.(road kill is good)

Save all shells of egg use for the week and bake them. Important, bake them! Crush baked shells. Feed shells back to chooks for more calcium. Grit is only for the digestive system. Don't Feed Bonemeal, nor feed with animal byproduct..(Roosters are mad enough without adding the worry of Mad Cow):o[

Remove eggs from nest quickly and often, increase amount of nest boxes, close nest boxes of night. Will be a complete turn around in two weeks and more egg production too. :o}

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), March 11, 2001.

The above answer is good. I also suggest darkening the nest boxes so that the chickens can't see the eggs as well.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), March 11, 2001.

You could try roll-a-way nesting boxes if nothing else works. (One benefit, keeps the eggs nice and clean.) Of course that doesn't help if you have any stuborn birds who insist on laying their eggs in the corner on the floor!

-- Nancy Bakke-McGonigle (dmcgonig@smig.net), March 11, 2001.

A hen sitting eggs will naturally eat any broken egg, no matter how nasty as a natural way of "tidying up." I think sometimes a hen will break an egg accidentally, tidy up, and realize that was good. Then it sometimes becomes hard to get them to stop breaking the eggs and eating them. I believe that it is not necessarily a deficiency. You may just have a chicken who knows she likes eggs. (If however the eggs are not nice and hard shelled,you might want to give them calcium. THis is included in Layer ration. Otherwise, the crushed shells will work or you can buy oyster shell). Try to gather your eggs more often until the hens get out of the habit.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), March 11, 2001.

I wondered too if it wasn't a protein defincy? Probably ALL of my hens are eating eggs. We didn't get one for weeks no matter how often we checked. Now that it is warm enough to be let out of the coop during the day we are getting eggs again. I'm sure some of it was boredom being cooped up all the time, then developing a bad habit; and I think now they are out they lay eggs in several "favorite" spots that are spread out (out of sight out of mind). But we are planning on ways to get get more protein into the winter diet next year to hopefully curb the problem before it starts. ????? still just theory though.....

-- Novina in ND (lamb@stellarnet.com), March 12, 2001.

Were they laying and eating the eggs or not laying? It is natural for egg production to be off during the winter months because of the shorter days. The daylight is what stimulates egg production.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcai@aol.com), March 12, 2001.

I suspect a protein deficiency myself. I always fed my chickens table scraps, including any meat scraps we had that weren't too salty and they snapped them up. I also fed all my birds earthworms, and any grubs I'd find in the garden, and recycled egg shells to them crushed in their food and never had any trouble with egg breaking/eating. Some friends thought they could get away with just grain and their chickens were always breaking the eggs and eating them.

It is possible that this is merely coincidental, but worth looking into.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 13, 2001.

My girls love to have LOTS of hay (or straw) in their nests. It also cushions the egg if the hen steps on it. My hens weigh a good bit. The oyster shell should be available at all times. Also check for mites on their legs. A itching chicken is irratated and upset, which may cause her to break eggs. I tried an eariler post of dipping their rough legs into kersoene and oil. Took them from the roast while they were quieted down. It was a week later the egg breaking stopped and they were much happier. Oh yeah, remember to paint the roast poles with the left-over mixture of kerosene and oil.

-- Eve in FL (owenall@lwol.com), March 14, 2001.

Novina- I'm SO glad to see you're still around.

-- Peg in NW WI (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), March 14, 2001.

you definately have a calcium deficency, but lack of light may be your main problem. preferably sunlight, but full spectrum ligt bulbs will help. chickens (and US) need the vitiman D in sunlight to help us make calcium.

-- blue eggs (blueeggs@united.net), March 16, 2001.

I would second the notion of adding some straw. My birds are a heavy breed also and do fine laying great eggs on just cracked corn and kitchen scraps(limited). I notice extra bedding keeps the eggs safe. (If straw falls out of the nest, try nailing a board to the bottom of the entrance to keep the fill inside.)

-- Brenda Clark (brenclark@alltel.net), March 17, 2001.