At the beggining of the spring, my three chickens, who had been producing 2 to 3 eggs a day, just stopped producing. It took me a couple of weeks to prove that they were eating their own eggs, shell and all. I figure they are lacking calcium, but I'm not sure. Why are they eating their eggs, why, and what can I do?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

-- Mike Maloney (himcdna@msn.com), June 14, 2001

Answers

My guess is calcium and protein-shortage. Are your cickens able to eat bugs? Let 'm run free for an hour or two a day if you can.

-- Sandra Kerkhoven (sanshine@webtv.net), June 14, 2001.

Hi. I have had the same problem but on a larger scale. I was getting nearly 3 doz eggs a day from about 45 hens. They were fed scratch and lay pellets, given green scraps, plenty of oyster shell and clean water. I decided they were bored so I started letting them out in the evening for about two hours before dark and they'd put themselves 'to bed' when it got dark. This helped somewhat. I also put hard, edible stalks in their pen, stuff like broccoli and kale stalks, for them to peck on. I was still losing about a dozen eggs and day though. I have a flock of mixed breeds and I had five leghorns. These five leghors were the culprits. I noticed they were the only ones with yolk on their beaks and faces, so I culled them out and ate the stringy things in gumbo. That totally solved the problem. Hope this helps!

-- HannahMariaHolly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), June 14, 2001.

Hi, Mike~ I think you are onto the right idea with calcium shortage. Generally a hen starts eating eggs when she accidentally breaks a soft shelled one, and this starts the habit. If you can get the shells good and hard again it takes a lot for the hen to break through and they probably will stop. Start upping the cacium with oystershells or something like that and see what happens.

Jennifer L.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@imcnet.net), June 14, 2001.

Definitely check their feed requirements, but be aware that once they start this habit they may not stop it. (We have a Rhode Island Red who is the culprite. Once she was seperated from the flock the egg eating stopped.) You may want to try a roll away nest box if nothing else works.

-- Nancy Bakke-McGonigle Mn. Sunset (dmcgonig@smig.net), June 14, 2001.

Our chickens get laying mash, oyster shell, grit, and plenty of green, yet still occasionally eat eggs. I don't think it's always a nutrition thing. I think with us, one of the eggs was accidently broken and they tried it and decided they liked it. So now we just check the eggs about 4 times a day, hoping to get the eggs before a chicken looking for a snack does!

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), June 14, 2001.

One trick I have learned is to hang something green (an old head of cabbage, green leafy plant etc.) From the top of the pen, just out of their reach, making them jump for it. They will do this and not be board and stop eating their eggs because they have something to do. This works best with birds that are not allowed to free range

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), June 14, 2001.

It's a good idea to feed the eggshells back to the chickens to supplement the calcium. Promptly collecting the eggs also helps avoid broken eggs. Once broken, they will almost always eat it. Our problem is that our hens all like to lay in the same nest so that we get a lot of eggs piled up together, and then breakage is sure to follow.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 14, 2001.

I feed back my egg shells too. I dry them out and crush them. I also put fake eggs in the nest so they can see that they can't eat them, taking the real eggs out a few times a day.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), June 14, 2001.

My mom also feeds her shells back to the chickens, but toasts them in the broiler first. I like the idea about faking the hens out with unbreakable eggs.

-- Kellie Duncan (kashaa@swbell.net), June 20, 2001.

Chickens eat eggs not out of a shortage in their diets, but out of a greed for the sensation they once discovered when an egg broke accidentally. Eggs taste good! Once you have one chicken who has tasted egg, you will have a problem. Her excitement over eating broken egg will entice the others to try it, and voila, you have got a big problem in your flock! You can try ultra-fortification of their diets with calcium, to try to strengthening the egg-shells against breakage, but some chickens will still lay brittle shelled eggs. (They probably have an absorption problem.) Those eggs will be easy to break and eat. I have one hen that will lay her egg and immediately turn around and peck it till it breaks. She should have had her head on the chopping block long ago. Because that is the only real cure.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), June 20, 2001.

fanciers there is another idea beside all the good ones here. First I never fed the egg shells back unless they had been heted in hot water to kill the fresh taste. Also hang a bundle of baled alfalfa in a 3x4 ft piece of wire about 18 inches from the ceiling and let them jump for the hay leaves. when only stalks empty and reste with new hay bundle. Then also the broad leafed greens is bestlettuce is waste of time just water and mess. Also if you make a feed of 1/2 gallon whole horse oats with 1 gallon of buttermilk and 1 pint of yoguart and soak over night in a plastic bucket and iff too dry in the morning add some more buttermilk and stir and feed the hens. feed in plastic or wooden troughs and then clean when the feed has be eaten out. Also this fed three times a week will add to good lactobicilus in the gut flora and also good egg laying ability. But catch the birds eting the eggs as suggested and do away with them. happy chickens Glenda L. Heywood nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com

-- GLHeywood (nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com), June 21, 2001.

Fanciers also on the egg eating thing Use of 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinager a day in the gallon of water is what makes the chickens system utilize the calcium. The vinager has potassioum in it and the hens body uses it to make the calcium more digetable. The hens body uses 85 percent in each egg of calcium. So the use of oyster shell and crrushed limestone is good for calcium Crushed limestone is not good for the grinding of grains but when mixed with the chickens stomach juices will make calcium in her body. Also the use of 1 gallon of wheat and 1/4 cup of cod libver oil or 1 gallon of wheat and 1/4 cup vitmin E is also good for the birds if using together put the oils seperate on the grains and let stand overnight and then mix as when the two oils are wet them undo each others effectiveness, in Vitamin E, A and D. Feed once a week. Glenda L. Heywood nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com

-- GLHeywood (nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com), June 21, 2001.

Fanciers Apple Cidar vinager also on the egg eating thing Use of 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinager a day in the gallon of water is what makes the chickens system utilize the calcium. The vinager has potassioum in it and the hens body uses it to make the calcium more digetable. The hens body uses 85 percent in each egg of calcium. So the use of oyster shell and crrushed limestone is good for calcium Crushed limestone is not good for the grinding of grains but when mixed with the chickens stomach juices will make calcium in her body. Also the use of 1 gallon of wheat and 1/4 cup of cod libver oil or 1 gallon of wheat and 1/4 cup vitmin E is also good for the birds if using together put the oils seperate on the grains and let stand overnight and then mix as when the two oils are wet them undo each others effectiveness, in Vitamin E, A and D. Feed once a week. Glenda L. Heywood nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com

-- GLHeywood (nationalpoultrynews@yahoo.com), June 21, 2001.

Thankyou for the advice, will try feeding back the egg shells, although the are free range hens, though their diet is supplemented with layers pallets, and food scraps and shell grit.Strangely it is only one doing it, but have now separeted her from the others.

-- Ian Walter (beawal@ozemail.com.au.), September 05, 2001.