For many of us, holding a provide of contemporary eggs going is the primary purpose for proudly owning chickens. It’s an thrilling time when your women begin laying!
Heading out within the morning to gather the bounty you’re employed so laborious for and- what’s this? An egg is damaged! Worse than damaged, it’s principally gone.
And there’s the yolk and bits of shell all around the beak of considered one of your chickens. After which, my goodness, it’s beginning in on one other! That is horrible! Why on Earth would your chickens eat their very own eggs?
There are a number of the explanation why chickens may eat their very own eggs, together with an absence of calcium, an absence of energy, a deteriorating laying atmosphere, or general stress. It is potential to curb egg cannibalism with the best method.
That is all the time a ugly day when it occurs, however it’s one thing that lots of hen homeowners will expertise particularly once they’re new to the observe.
It may possibly fully stymie and even halt your harvest of eggs, so that you’ve received to place a cease to it. The excellent news is that it’s a reasonably simple subject to diagnose after which take care of.
Maintain studying and I’ll inform you much more concerning the the explanation why your chickens are consuming their very own eggs and cease it…
Lack of Dietary Calcium
Some of the frequent causes that your chickens will begin consuming your personal eggs, and regrettably probably the most severe, is an absence of dietary calcium.
Chickens, like just about each animal, want loads of calcium with a purpose to develop sturdy, wholesome bones and likewise to maintain these bones maintained. This, and lots of different vital organic processes moreover.
Extra germane to the subject, although, egg laying requires tons of calcium as a result of it’s the first part of eggshells. If a hen is operating low on calcium, their physique will mainly sign them to start out craving calcium-rich meals. You realize what calcium-rich meals occurs to be close by for such a hen? That’s proper: eggs, with the shell and all!
It naturally follows {that a} hen so bothered would activate their very own eggs, or some other eggs they’ll get. Fortunately, that is fairly simple to remediate by merely boosting their calcium intake by different dietary means.
Supplemental calcium or a distinct kind of feed that can provide extra is normally all it takes to stabilize their nutrient ranges and get them again to regular.
Nevertheless, as soon as chickens have began consuming eggs, they’ll develop a style for them after which the habits may persist. We’ll speak extra about that in only a minute.
Not Sufficient Meals to Eat
Typically a hen isn’t missing any explicit nutrient however is as an alternative simply missing meals usually. If chickens are hungry, which means they’ve a calorie deficit, they’ll begin searching for issues to eat, clearly. Something, to eat.
They’ll get all types of issues from their atmosphere, together with grass and seeds, bugs, worms, and any scraps they’ll swipe from the feeder or from different animals, but when they’ve a grumbling tummy or are severely underfed, eggs will as soon as once more be on the menu.
And why not? Eggs are extraordinarily nutritious, full of protein, fat, nutritional vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and loads of energy.
This, as soon as once more, it’s normally simple to cease (at the very least theoretically) by growing a hen’s calorie consumption. Certain, you is perhaps placing out loads of meals to your flock in accordance with your on-paper calculations, however are you positive that each hen within the flock is getting sufficient?
The pecking order is an actual factor, and if bully birds are stopping some others decrease on the totem pole from getting sufficient meals, they may resort to stealing eggs in a while.
Control issues, and take into account extra feed stations if essential. As soon as once more, this habits may be particularly problematic as a result of it’s potential for chickens to develop a style for eggs.
They Had been Fed Eggs Beforehand
Another excuse, and a very troubling one, that chickens will eat their very own eggs or the eggs of different birds within the flock is as a result of they merely like them.
Sure, that’s proper: chickens are hardly repulsed by the act of consuming eggs, even their very personal. Actually, most chooks I’ve recognized actually love them!
That is clearly a significant drawback. As soon as chickens have eaten eggs, notably uncooked or flippantly cooked eggs, they’ll develop a style for them.
Like some other meals they like, they’ll come to prioritize consuming it. If that exact hen, say a laying hen, likes eggs usually she’ll instantly activate her personal eggs when she lays them. What a catastrophe!
You’ll be able to incite this habits your self by feeding your flock eggs that haven’t been totally cooked and scrambled. It’s best to by no means give chickens uncooked eggs intentionally!
Worse but, chickens be taught all kinds of habits. Not every little thing is only instinctive for them: most birds in a flock have close-knit relationships with each other, so “parroting” is prone to happen.
If one hen eats an egg, one other hen will begin consuming an egg. After which one other hen, after which one other hen. Earlier than you understand it, you’ve received a complete flock of cannibals! It is a main catastrophe.
This may be very troublesome to cease as soon as it’s properly established, and normally takes a protracted interval of breaking procedures we’ll discuss later.
Poor Laying Atmosphere
Your chickens is perhaps fairly far faraway from their wild jungle foul ancestors, however they nonetheless have lots of the similar instincts in relation to replica. Chickens desire a protected, safe, and wholesome atmosphere to put their eggs in.
As soon as they begin laying in a selected area, it out within the wild or in a nesting field within the coop, if that atmosphere is compromised or not appropriate they may determine to abort laying.
Mainly, the mom is declaring “no cube” and can make the choice to recycle the vitamins invested within the egg by consuming it. This isn’t a habits that’s distinctive to chickens; plenty of birds do it.
What kind of environmental stressors may trigger this habits? A scarcity of cleanliness, a buildup of harmful gasses from droppings, mildew, insect infestation, temperature spikes, extra humidity, and much more. The answer, after all, is a tidy, clear, contemporary, and well-maintained coop or nesting space.
Stress
The very last thing to account for if egg consuming is rampant in your flock is particular person stress ranges. Regardless of being extremely social, chickens are nonetheless people, and if any fowl, laying hen or in any other case, is wired or agitated, egg cannibalism could be a consequence.
Possibly it’s an damage, sickness, or one thing else. In the event that they’ve been entering into lots of fights or continuously being hassled by fellow chickens or different animals, they’ll react badly and begin consuming eggs.
This could be a troublesome trigger to pin down, however in case you’ve accounted for vitamin, and the laying atmosphere and know that the fowl in query has not developed a style for eggs beforehand, that you must begin wanting deeper.
Undoubtedly take into account exiling the hen to a separate enclosure or to a colony with different troublemakers till you may get a deal with on issues. You’ll be able to’t let this go unchallenged!
How Can You Curb Relentless Egg Consuming?
So, after addressing all the potential root causes above, you continue to have at the very least one hen that’s chowing down on eggs. What are you presupposed to do?
You’ve solely a few choices to take care of these remorseless cannibals of freshly laid eggs.
For starters, you’ve received to be as fast as you may when accumulating eggs. Study the schedule of your women, kind of, and be sure you pounce as rapidly as potential to take away the chance and temptation to eat, and likewise save the eggs themselves.
That is additionally a good time to swap that eliminated egg with a golf ball or with a purpose-made decoy egg. Each are laborious, unbreakable egg “surrogates” that can train the egg eaters a painful however in the end innocent lesson.
As soon as the offenders take a number of pecks on the decoy, over repeated makes an attempt they need to be taught to surrender their errant methods. This requires time and diligence in your half, nonetheless.
As talked about above, you can even take away recognized egg eaters to an enclosure or a colony for troublemakers that’s separate from the principle flock. This can even assist to curb the social contagion facet of egg consuming.
Lastly, typically, you’ve received no different alternative besides to cull a remorseless fowl. Some chickens, for no matter purpose, simply received’t be damaged and also you’ve received to contemplate the time and alternative prices related along with your ongoing efforts to alleviate the dangerous habits.
In the end, chickens are low cost and that you must take into consideration the well being and well-being of the remainder of the flock.
