Hope This Does the Trick

I've reported about a problem we're having with our hens.  They've picked up a really bad habit and it has spread to many in the flock - they are eating their eggs!  We've tried several things to try to stop this.  Some said that this is a result of them not getting enough calcium.  To remedy that, we put even more oyster shells out for them.  This didn't do anything to solve it.

Currently, we go outside several times a day and gather eggs as they are laid before the egg-eaters arrive, peck the eggs and eat the contents and then the shell.  By doing this, we've at least been able to get a few eggs each day.  We have seriously thought of putting all of our hens in the freezer and starting with fresh pullets.  We'll try another solution before we go that route.  It arrived in the mail today!

These are ceramic eggs.  We've used ceramic eggs, wooden eggs, and chalk eggs in nesting boxes before, but they were to combat another enemy - chicken snakes.  Chicken snakes would eat the fake eggs and it would kill them.  Over the years, I've lost many fake eggs as the snakes eat them, crawl off somewhere and die.  I've recovered a few from snake skeletons, but most are gone.

Some people have had success with these to break their hens of the egg-eating habit.  You simply place a ceramic egg or two in the nesting boxes.  When the egg eater(s) come and peck on the ceramic egg, they get a surprise.  The hard egg hurts their beak.  When it doesn't break, they move on and eventually tire of pecking on an egg that yields no nourishment, thus breaking the habit.

This egg-eating habit of the hens not only reduces the eggs we actually get to eat, but it makes collecting the remaining eggs a real chore.  The eggs that don't get eaten, are very difficult to clean as they have dried yolk on them and hay and feathers and dirt stick to the egg.  Washing the eggs with water to clean them washes off the protective "bloom" and reduces the shelf life of the egg.  I didn't want to wait another day.  I walked out to the hen house tonight with the ceramic eggs.

The hens were nestled all snug in their beds, with thoughts of egg-eating rushing through their heads

I opened the nesting boxes and deposited a ceramic egg in each box.

The eggs look mighty real. 

We'll see if this works and will report back to you!