Egg eating! AAAAAHH!

[Guest]

Just went outside to toss my girls a handful of scratch and one of them was peck-peck-pecking happily away at something in the snow...so I looked, and EEEEK it was an egg!  Not only had the bumbling biddy laid her egg in the snow, she\'d turned around and eaten it!!  Of course I took it away from her and threw it away but...is the damage done?  Will the foolish fowl continue to crack and consume the contents of the oval olive ova?  (Sorry  :p)

My girls eat lay ration right now, 16%, with maybe a handful or two of scratch in the morning to rev their metabolism in the cold weather.  Occasionally I will also toss out some leftover biscuits/bread or raw veggies/fruits (for example melons, tomatoes, pumpkins, celery, broccoli, carrots) or something to the critters in the paddock, but mostly the sheep and goats eat those and don\'t leave much for the chickens.

The girls also have a 10x12 foot stall in my barn all to themselves where they roost at night and hang out in bad weather, but during daylight hours they can come and go as they please.

This particular hen I believe this was her first egg, or at least one of her first.  These are pullets from this past spring and have just started into lay within the last few weeks, not all are laying yet.

Please tell me this is a one-time occurence and will never happen again...I hope I hope I hope!  Otherwise, I am afraid I will have to feed the heinous hen to my dog!!

I hope the small amount of additional items beside the lay ration in their diets has not reduced the protein content to the point where they have to get protein where they can find it...I did toss them a handful of meat-based dog food to increase the protein levels, when I found the egg-eater.  Should I do that instead of, or in addition to, the little bit of extra scratch I feed them to help them in the cold temperatures?

Man I hope this was just a fluke...

THANK YOU for any advice you can give me!

Liz in Utah

[bantamhill]

Liz,

Are they getting plenty of calcium and are the nests up and protected with plenty of bedding? It may be that they are simply bored. A head of cabbage and bedding to scratch in will help. It may be that the pullet dropped the egg in the run and that is what made logically fair game for others to eat, or it was cracked. Don\'t despair yet . . . it may never happen again. I have several reformed egg eaters around here that needed more to do and to learn where the nest was.

Michael

[Guest]

Oh yes they have free-choice crushed oyster shell along with their lay pellets, and raised nest boxes with shavings in the bottom and straw on top of the shavings.  The chicken run itself has shavings covered by straw as well, which they scratch in.  They also have a full acre plus for just a dozen hens to scratch in, that they have free access to during the day.

The bone-headed biddy had actually gone out of the chicken run and was scratching around in the snow when I found the egg being eaten by her.  I\'m hoping it was a juvenile lapse in judgement...

Thank you for writing, that makes me feel a bit better.  I guess if I find her doing it again, especially in the nest box, that\'s when I have to cull.   I hope not!!

Thanks again,

Liz

[Guest]

My birds do not crack and eat eggs but if one lays a soft shell and it breaks they will fight over the egg and shell.  I have not had a problem with them pecking and opening eggs.

Tim

[Guest]

Same here, my flock will swarm any egg that is open but are oblivious to them otherwise.  Growing up as a kid, mom always sent me to the chicken pen with the scraps which always included the eggshells to feed to them.

I still do that today...feed the shells back to the hens.  I even toss any cracked eggs I find in the nest out in the hen yard for them to eat.

Some might believe that this teaches them to eat eggs or view it as sort of morbid cannibalistic, but I\'ve never found one yet to deliberately open eggs on their own.  

I have a pen of 17 layer hens and I get 17 eggs a day from them...I feed them eggs all the time.