# Egg eating chicken



## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

I had posted that I got 15 young hens, we get about 13 eggs a day except 1 egg is sometimes eaten! I've checked beaks and have never found the guilty party. The last several days I've been going into the chicken house around 7am and just standing there and watching....after about 1hr or a little more, nothing had happened so I left. Went back yesterday morn and watched for a little over an hour, went in the house for a bit and then went back to chicken house. I was only in there a few minutes when I noticed the chicken in the farthest box doing something with her head down, I stepped really close to her nest and she was busy eating an egg!! DH wasn't at home, he had gone 1st trip of the year wood cutting so I took the hen, found the hatchet and after 15 minutes ( at least!) of encouraging myself I could do this, I butchered the hen. I skinned her and cleaned her ( not very gracefully I'm sure) and stewed her in the slow cooker all night. I watched videos online last night on how to skin and clean a chicken! I need to watch more. This was a hard thing for me to do.....I know you can not allow it to go on as the other hens might learn to eat eggs also but still, hard thing for me to do. Just thought I'd share with you guys...


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## diannamarsolek (Apr 10, 2012)

i cured mine of eating eggs with a dark nest box


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

*you did good*

if you would've been asking for advice -- a 'hatchet job' is exactly what I would've recommended to you, good job!

in my experience egg-eating behavior is almost never 'fixable', I know it has been done, but most of the time it's just false hope


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Here ya go. I really like these videos on chicken killin'.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Well Ms Nelda, you gotta do what you gotta do! My experience was hat its like an egg sucking dog, almost impossible to fix gracefully.


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## Tank_Girl (Dec 26, 2011)

In some cases it can be solved by having "roll away" nest boxes where the floor is sloped towards the back so the egg rolls into a trough at the back where the hens can't reach it.
But I commend you for solving the problem the way you did.
I hope she tasted alright.






You can also buy ready made roll away inserts that you can fit into nest boxes.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> if you would've been asking for advice -- a 'hatchet job' is exactly what I would've recommended to you, good job!
> 
> in my experience egg-eating behavior is almost never 'fixable', I know it has been done, but most of the time it's just false hope


Thanks Blob, I had been told that it was about impossible to stop a hen once she started but also that others would peck at what she was pecking at and then they would start! anyway, thanks for the support P.S. I put the broth in rice a roni and shredded meat also, yummy yummy good!


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## rockbear777 (Apr 9, 2012)

I have never had that problem. I am started to rotate my laying hens out so it is good to know what to do if I see that behavior.


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## Possumfam (Apr 19, 2011)

Good for you, I probably would've wimped out and put her in chicken jail till DH got home - cuz I'm ...ummmmm...chicken? I force myself to help DH when we harvest the roosters, but he does the actual killing and gutting. Guess I'm the plucker, but I get kinda sick to my stomach and want to cry.  We hatch out our own, so they are almost pets. I read your post to DH - he said "Grandma would've been proud of her!" and THAT'S a compliment, she wasn't proud of anybody! Good girl! :congrat:


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Possumfam said:


> Good for you, I probably would've wimped out and put her in chicken jail till DH got home - cuz I'm ...ummmmm...chicken? I force myself to help DH when we harvest the roosters, but he does the actual killing and gutting. Guess I'm the plucker, but I get kinda sick to my stomach and want to cry.  We hatch out our own, so they are almost pets. I read your post to DH - he said "Grandma would've been proud of her!" and THAT'S a compliment, she wasn't proud of anybody! Good girl! :congrat:


Thanks Possum, it's so nice to be able to share stuff like this and folks understand what you're saying, ( or not saying) I think it's easier to shoot a deer than kill a chicken cuz it's so impersonal to shoot something and quite personal to use a hatchet on something! You know what I mean? anyway, thank you again.:wave:


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

neldarez said:


> Thanks Possum, it's so nice to be able to share stuff like this and folks understand what you're saying, ( or not saying) I think it's easier to shoot a deer than kill a chicken cuz it's so impersonal to shoot something and quite personal to use a hatchet on something! You know what I mean? anyway, thank you again.:wave:


I'm not crazy about the hatchet either, but I think back to my childhood of watching my daddy wring the chicken's head off with his hand and the hatchet is much preferable. You did good!!!


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

don't know anything about chickens but odd behavior like that can be a sigh of a lack of vitamins. could your chicks need calcium?


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Neldarez, I am so very impressed. Truly. Yes, it was what you needed to do, but it took gumption all the same.

We are new to chicken ownership, and I know I need to be able to do what you've done. I will remember this thread when the time comes. I'll just tell myself, "If sweet Miss Nelda can do it, so can I!"


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

stayingthegame said:


> don't know anything about chickens but odd behavior like that can be a sigh of a lack of vitamins. could your chicks need calcium?


Oyster shells might help the other chickens not start the bad behavior.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

stayingthegame said:


> don't know anything about chickens but odd behavior like that can be a sigh of a lack of vitamins. could your chicks need calcium?


no, they have free choice oyster shell


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