It would be best to prevent it from becoming a norm among the other chickens because they can easily influence one another.
This article provides a complete guide to handling the situation of a chicken eating eggs in your poultry.
Let’s get started!
How To Tell Which Chicken Is Eating Eggs?
It is the first stage of finding a solution to the egg-eating problem.
Once you can identify and isolate the chicken, you can stop it from eating eggs and spreading it to other chickens.
Noise
This method will be effective if you are around the chicken when they commit the act. When the chicken tries to break the shell, you will hear a “tap-tap” sound.
Once you hear the sound, trace it, and you will catch the chicken in the act.
Color The Eggs
The colored egg method can be very effective in identifying several egg-eating chickens. Take an eggshell that is broken and fill it up with colored food.
Preferably black, blue, or green, you can avoid using red. Place the colored eggs on each coop, and when you come back, their beaks will tell the story.
Check Their Belly
Often, the chicken, after eating the eggs, will sit on it, and they might stick to the belly of the chicken. So, you can check their belly to see the ones with shells on them.
Check Their Beak
This method will require you to be observant of the chicken whenever you are in the birdhouse.
You can check the chicken’s beaks, and the one you will find with dried yolk on its beak is the culprit.
Because as the chicken peck the yolk, some gets stuck to its beak that dries off after some time.
Check Their Head
Aside from the belly and beak, the head is another part you can check for yolk residue.
When the chickens are eating the egg, the yolk tends to spread to the head of the chicken.
Use A Motion Camera
Though this is an expensive method, it is the most effective because sometimes the chickens might not be responsible.
So, by installing a camera, you will see all the activities and be able to fish out the guilty chicken.
Checkout For Sick Chickens
Sometimes, the egg-eating habit might be due to an illness or infection that prompts irrational behaviors.
So, you can check out any bird exhibiting any symptoms or look thin and check them out. The sick chicken might be the culprit in eating the eggs.
Isolation Of Chickens
You can also isolate chickens to test them individually rather than as a group. This method is not practical for the mass production of birds.
You can only apply this method when the birds are not much because you must take them one at a time.
After isolating the chicken, place an egg close to it; if the chicken eats the egg, you have your culprit.
Rolling Fake Egg On The Ground
You can employ this tactic to get the egg eater among your chicken. First, gather all the birds in one place and create an aisle through their middle.
Then, roll a fake egg slowly through the middle and wash the one that reacts to it. You will either get your culprit or a potential one; either way, you are safe.
Direct Test
You can use a direct test method by placing an egg beside the chicken to see what its reaction will be.
If the chicken goes for the egg, you have your egg eater caught red-handed. But this is a very tedious process because you will have to repeat it for every chicken.
How To Stop The Chicken From Eating An Egg?
When it comes to the battle to stop the chicken from eating eggs, you will be required to carry out some drastic measures.
These measures include fixing their food and nest, collecting eggs, and tricks that help the chicken refrain from eating eggs.
Fix Their Food
The first thing to do about chickens eating eggs is to fix their food. Ensure that it has the necessary nutrients for layers.
Also, the protein level should be boosted by utilizing feeds like yogurt, sunflower seed, and mealworm.
The calcium level should also be addressed, and the best source of calcium is crushed egg shells. It is very economical and readily available to use.
But, ensure that they are adequately crushed to prevent them from affecting the chicken’s gizzard.
Darken The Nesting Box
When there is no light, chickens cannot see to eat the eggs. So, you can improvise by adding curtains to the nest box to dim the light.
You can start by keeping the curtain partially open, and when they get used to it, you can draw the curtain fully.
It may also reduce the tendency of the chicken to eat their eggs.
Collect The Egg Often
The less time the chicken spends with the eggs, the lesser the possibility of them eating their egg.
So, you can construct a sloppy nesting box that collects the eggs immediately after they lay the eggs.
Fill Empty Egg Shells With Mustard Or Soap
This method will work when the chicken has been isolated from the others. Then, fill an empty egg shell with mustard or soap, and keep it around the chicken.
When it comes and finds the content unappealing, the chicken will distance itself from eggs.
Pay Close Attention To The Chickens
Chickens can easily be stressed, so you have to ensure that you provide the proper environment for them to thrive—the number of birds in a coop, the nesting box, and the cleaning of the environment.
Beak Trimming
It should only be considered a last resort when other means are unsuccessful.
A well-trained professional should only do beak trimming, and someone should monitor the process.
To carry out beak trimming, you must identify the chicken eating the eggs before trimming its beak.
It will make it difficult for the chicken to break the egg with its beak.
You should know that method is not advisable for an entire flock because it can reduce feed consumption and egg production.
Preventing Chicken From Eating Eggs
Looking for a solution to a problem is good, but having the ability to prevent a problem from occurring is better.
Some measures that you can take to prevent the chicken from eating eggs are as follows:
Train the layers to use the nest before they start laying. You can move them to the layer house away from the other chickens.
Make roosts available to encourage the use of nests during the growing period.
The size of your nesting box should be 12 x 12 inches for a maximum of five chickens. The minimum number of nesting boxes available for use should be six.
The nests should be 2 feet above the ground and a minimum of 4 feet away from the roosts.
A 2-inch dry and clean nesting material should always be available for egg padding protection.
Broody chickens should be removed from the nesting place because they occupy space and increase the traffic in the remaining nests.
Bright lights near the nesting area and coops should be avoided. It makes them nervous and increases their picking habits.
Refrain from scare tactics to remove chickens from the nesting box, as their scrambling movements might break some of the eggs.
Conclusion
Chickens are cannibalistic, and they can eat their eggs. If the chicken is not identified and isolated on time, it might affect the other chicken.
As you have seen in this article, there are steps you can follow to identify these chickens in time.
Also, you can use different measures to stop the egg-eating problem after identifying the chicken.
