When keeping chickens, you may find yourself stepping into your coop and finding your chickens eating their eggs. It is the last thing any chicken owner wants to see. I found one of my chickens eating her egg a few months ago, and I knew I needed to take action and find out how to stop chickens from eating their eggs.
There are various methods you can use to get your chickens to stop eating their eggs, including preventing egg breakage. You can also try to use different nesting boxes, add fake clay or rubber eggs to the nests, filling empty shells with mustard to break the chickens egg eating habits for good.
It’s not easy to get chickens to stop eating their eggs. I tried a few different methods, but they didn’t work, so I contacted a family friend who has been keeping chickens for years on how to get my chickens to stop. She gave me a lot of information on what she had tried when it happened to her, and I wanted to share this helpful information.
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How To Stop Your Chicken From Eating Their Eggs
When chickens start to eat their eggs, it is a problem that you need to address immediately, or the situation might get worse. It typically happens when an egg breaks and the chicken gets curious, tastes the egg, and then peck at the new eggs in their nesting box. They may also eat their eggs if they need something more in their diet.
The worst part is they tend to teach their friends to do the same, and soon you won’t have any eggs as your flock will devour all the eggs they can. Fortunately, there are quite a few techniques you can try to get your chickens to stop eating their eggs. We will take a look at a few different ways that have worked for others.
1. Look At The Diet Of Your Chickens
Chickens that start eating eggs may not be doing it merely out of curiosity; they may be lacking something in their diet. Regular layer chicken feed has around 18% protein and 4% calcium; chickens need protein and calcium to form eggs.
When a chicken doesn’t get enough protein or calcium, it will eat its eggs as a supplement as the inside of the egg has the protein it needs, and the shell is nearly pure calcium. You can increase the absorption of the layer feed and add probiotics by fermenting your chicken feed or adding supplements (after speaking to your vet).
You can also crush eggshells and mix some with the feed to get more calcium into the chickens’ systems.
2. Prevent Eggs From Breaking By Reducing Stress
When eggs break, chickens will peck out of curiosity, so you can take measures to keep the eggs from breakage. You must lower their stress to keep them from accidentally breaking the eggs. There are several ways you can keep eggs whole until you can collect them. Some of the ways include;
- Don’t startle your chickens when you open the coop for the day or check in,
- Don’t let bright light near the nest boxes,
- Ensure you have enough space for each hen in the coop and nesting boxes,
- Keep fresh water and the appropriate feed available at all times, and set up an extra feeding station to ensure all the hens can get enough food,
- Provide outside space where the chickens can roam and forage.
3. Give A Soft Landing Space For The Eggs
If you are concerned about the eggs breaking when the chickens are laid, you can provide a soft lining with added straw on top to provide a soft landing for your chicken eggs. That way, they won’t break when they land. It helps to discourage them from breaking the eggs on their own.
4. Use Roll-Away Nest Boxes To Prevent Interaction With Eggs
Another effective way to remove the temptation of egg eating altogether is to use roll-away nesting boxes. The moment a chicken lays an egg, it rolls out of reach of the chicken, so they aren’t able to get to the eggs, and it gives you enough time to collect the eggs without the worry of chickens getting to one if it should break or getting to it to break it.
5. Use Fake Eggs To Trick The Chickens
You can also use fake eggs in the nesting box. These hard eggs are made from clay, wood, and plastic; people also use golf balls. If the chicken should get curious and start pecking their eggs, they will find their eggs hard and impenetrable, which will discourage them from trying again.
6. Use Eggs Filled With Mustard
One very effective way to get chickens to stop eating their eggs or the eggs of other chickens is to fill some with mustard. You make a small hole in the bottom of an egg and blow out the contents, then fill it with mustard and put it in the offending chicken’s nesting box. Chickens hate the taste of mustard, and after a few beaks full of mustard, they will stop pecking at the eggs.
7. Regularly Collect Eggs
Whether you have only a few chickens or a few dozen, you should collect eggs regularly. Because you can’t tell when chickens lay eggs, you should collect eggs every few hours to ensure no eggs stay in the nesting box long enough to become a tasty snack.
8. Keep Next Boxes Dark With Curtains
You can also use curtains on their nest boxes to confuse them about where the eggs are, as chickens can’t really see in the dark. The darker the boxes are, the less the chickens can see their eggs. You can use curtains parted down the middle, and you might need to keep one side open for a while to encourage your chickens to lay eggs in the partially blacked-out nesting boxes.
Conclusion
When you find your chickens are eating their eggs, you should address it immediately, or the situation worsens. They will not stop unless you take some of the measures mentioned in the post. Using fake eggs, putting mustard in empty eggs, regularly collecting eggs, and ensuring enough food and water are available will help curb their appetite for their eggs.
