Egg Eating

Egg Eating

July 10, 2022

(Angelica greedily spying on her eggs!)

The last thing you want is for your chickens to start eating their own eggs. That kind of defeats the purpose of raising chickens.

Egg eating chickens are obviously not what you want in a backyard flock. It's a bad habit that gets harder to break the longer you let it go on.

Many say that culling the offender(s) is the only way to stop it, but I believe that there are a few less drastic solutions.

How Does Egg Eating Start?

Many people blame feeding their chickens eggs or eggshells, either raw or cooked, for introducing their chickens to eating eggs. 

But in reality, egg eating generally starts by accident. An egg gets stepped on or otherwise breaks in the nest, one curious hen pecks at it and thinks, "hmm this tastes good". And now you've got an egg eating chickens.

She will then start breaking eggs as soon 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.

Your first clue might be a lack of, or reduction in the number of eggs you collect, although there are other reasons why production slows down.

Other than catching egg eating chickens red-handed with yolk dripping off their beaks, your best clue will be a wet mess in the nests, but no sign of an egg. The chickens will generally eat the egg, shell and all.

Basically, you want to keep the eggs from breaking in the first place, but I have some other tips for heading off egg eating chickens before they start - and then for "curing" an egg eater after the fact.

Things That Might Contribute To Egg Eating

• Weak-shelled eggs
• Not enough bedding in the nesting boxes
• Not enough nesting boxes
• High visibility nesting boxes
• Broody hens
• Cooped up chickens
• Not enough protein
• Pure boredom

How To Stop Egg Eating

Eggs should be collected as quickly as possible to avoid having them sitting in the nesting boxes creating a temptation.

Replace the eggs with golf balls, plastic Easter eggs, ping pong balls, wood or ceramic eggs or even some rocks so your chickens will start to find that when they peck at "eggs" they don't break and tasty yummy inside after all.

In extreme cases, or if you aren't home to collect the eggs, the nesting boxes can be replaced with the roll-away type of nest box where the floor is slanted and the eggs literally roll out into a collection tray as soon as they are laid.

Note: Urban Chicken Legend- Something often mentioned on the internet to stop egg eating is to blow out some eggs and fill them with mustard and/or hot sauce.

The theory is that hens will learn pretty fast that eggs don't taste good. However, it's been proven that hens' taste buds aren't designed to taste or feel 'hot' or 'spicy', so don't bother.

However, the hot sauce or mustard trick can be used to deter rodents or snakes from eating the eggs, if that's a problem in your coop.

So ignore that myth and try some of my other suggestions. 

With a little persistence, it is possible to break a hen of the bad habit of egg eating!