L. Holloway is an experienced keeper of chickens and other fowl who has spent nearly a decade educating others on their habits and care.
Why Do Chickens Eat Their Own Eggs?
Generally speaking, hens will not break open a good egg and eat it. But once in a while, egg-eating rears its ugly head in a flock and can be extremely difficult to stop. For those who depend on their chickens for eggs, egg-eating can be devastating. Not only does it virtually eradicate the number of eggs an owner is able to collect, but it can be emotionally jarring to witness your hens tear into an egg with voracious appetites.
Whether your goal is to prevent egg-eating from the beginning or to break an existing habit in your flock, there are several steps you can take to make sure that your hens' hard work ends up in your kitchen—and not in their bellies.
Read on to find out why chickens eat their own eggs, what you can do to stop it, and questions and answers surrounding common egg-eating misconceptions.
Adequate nutrition, ample enrichment objects, and a healthy mind are crucial to prevent egg-eating habits.
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The Causes of Egg Eating
There are three primary causes for egg-eating behavior, aside from the aforementioned instinct to eat broken eggs:
Boredom
Nutritional deficiency
Mental disorder
The vast majority of the time, egg-eating behavior is triggered by one of the first two circumstances, and as a result, is a curable habit. If boredom and nutritional needs have been ruled out as culprits, then the hen in question is likely mentally ill and cannot be fully broken of the practice.
Even if this is the case, you may not necessarily need to cull her if you can afford to invest in roll-away nesting boxes that will tuck eggs away safely out of her reach. Such nesting boxes can be purchased ready-made or built at home using plans and diagrams.
If egg eating is the result of one or both of the first two possibilities, then the habit can be broken, but it will require a fair amount of effort. First and foremost, you must address the cause of the egg-eating behavior, and then you will need to break them of the habit. This may prove challenging and will require some patience on your part.
Chickens who are bored or who suffer from poor diet are more likely to resort to egg-eating behaviors.
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What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Boredom
Enrichment and entertainment for chickens are often overlooked in coop design, but planning a coop that will keep your chickens mentally occupied and engaged is the first crucial step in preventing egg-eating behaviors, as well as other undesired habits like bullying, feather picking, and neurotic behavior. Chickens need puzzles to solve, and without anything else to figure out, they may create their own challenges by trying to crack open eggs to get to the contents.
Hanging treat balls, hiding scratch in piles of leaves, and breaking up the visual space in the coop are all ways you can mitigate boredom in your flock and reduce the risk of egg-eating behaviors. For more ideas and information about keeping chickens engaged while in confinement, please see my article on the subject.
If your hens free range daily, it is fairly safe to rule out boredom as a potential cause for the egg-eating behavior, although once again, you should make sure the shortage of eggs is actually due to egg eating and not some other cause, like a hidden clutch somewhere in the yard.
What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Nutritional Issues
Another major cause of egg-eating is a simple nutritional deficiency. Some hens require more calcium or protein in their diet than their feed provides, particularly when stressed or molting. Without alternative sources for these nutrients, they may resort to eating eggs to get by. You can help mitigate their cravings by providing oyster shells on the side for calcium and treats like mealworms or meat scraps to boost their intake of protein.
Hens who pick and eat feathers—whether off the ground or off of each other—are likely suffering from a protein deficiency. If you notice your chickens eating feathers, try offering extra protein in whatever form is available to you and see if that mitigates the problem.
What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Mental Illness
Just like with people and all other animals, chickens can suffer from mental illness. Once in a great while, a hen will develop a neurological issue wherein she will feel compelled to break open and eat eggs, and no amount of effort on your part will ever cure her of that. You can cope with her behavior by installing roll-away nesting boxes or by culling her from the flock, but her inclination will always be there.
Culling a hen from the flock may mean having her processed for meat, selling her to someone else with full disclosure of her bad habits, or simply confining her to a separate pen where she cannot raid the nests of her flock mates. It is important that you do not allow her to continue her bad habit in the presence of the rest of the flock, as healthy chickens may pick up on the habit from observing her.
