Egg eating by your chickens is a bad habit that gets harder to break the longer you let it go on. Many say that culling the offenders is the only way to stop it, but I offer that there are a few less drastic solutions.
It generally starts by accident. An egg gets stepped on or otherwise breaks, one curious hen pecks at it and thinks - hmm this tastes good. She will then start breaking eggs as they are laid, and soon other hens will follow her lead and you'll have a whole flock laying eggs and proceeding to eat them.
There are several things that can cause egg eating to start:
1) Weak-Shelled Eggs
Even a good layer feed doesn't provide enough calcium for really strong shells. If your shells are weak, a hen can step on, and inadvertently break it. Providing free-choice oyster shell or crushed eggshell can help with that. As long as you crush the eggshells into 1/4" or smaller pieces, the chickens won't associate the shells with eggs, so don't worry about feeding crushed eggshell leading to egg eating. I have been doing it for years and not had once incidence of egg eating. Ever.
2) Not Enough Bedding in the Nesting Boxes
There should be at least 2" of soft bedding (such as straw, pine shavings, shredded paper) in the nesting boxes to prevent eggs from breaking on the hard floor.
I have tried both straw and shavings, but prefer straw for the nesting boxes. I have found it holds its shape better, whereas with shavings, the chickens will make a "bowl" in it right down to the nesting box floor and the egg will be sitting on the bare floor.
Queue
Q-Farms and Assoc / Pakistan
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