Egg eating help please!

[PrimDaisyShadow]

Hi Laners,
I'm sorry I'm here with another problem from my Columbine, Paloma. She's been eating her own eggs on and off for a week or 2, I was putting it down to them being soft shells and breaking easier. I seem to have rectified the soft shell problem by cutting her free ranging down so she's not eating too much grass etc but the egg eating has stepped up. On Sunday she ate Primroses egg but left hers own alone, yesterday she ate hers (one one else laid) I went and bought the plastic eggs for broody hens in the hope I'd baffle her with them (I already had a pot egg in the nest box anyway)This morning I went out to see them earlier than usual in the hope I'd catch them before she got to them but found all 3 eggs had been eaten, Primrose and Hetty were both sat in the nest box on the false eggs, I felt so sorry for them.
I'm so annoyed, is there anything I can do to stop her? I know once it's starts it hard to break. My husband thinks I need to take her back to the breeder!!!
She the friendliest of my 3 but I'm starting to fall out with her.
Thank you, Emma

[kitla]

It is a difficult habit to break, I know some people cull hens that do this - sound
a bit drastic but I expect that's what the breader might do if you return her.
The old fashioned thing to do is to fill an egg with mustard so she associates
doing it with a nasty taste, but some think this is cruel. There is a nestbox to buy
that has a sloping part so the eggs roll away when they've been laid.

[Skeksis]

Hi

Had lots of experience of this. Dont do the mustard thing it is cruel and does not work.

Curtains are the immediate and instant answer. See my old posts cheers

[PrimDaisyShadow]

Thank you guys!
I don't want to return her, I know the breeder will just cull her she's such a pretty bird and so gentle!
Skeksis, I can't see any other posts regarding curtains could you point me in the right direction, please? I had thought about putting a board up on one side to darken it? Would the curtains need to go all across the nest boxes and would they still go in?
I've just cleaned them out and not but any shavings in the nest box as I thought if the egg had nothing surrounding it it would roll away when she tried to peck and may get bored?
Thanks again
E x

[Skeksis]

Taking the bedding out is the worst thing you can do! You need plenty of bedding for the egg to sink in to! Yes curtains across all the boxes make sure blavkout so no light can get in, problem solved

[kitla]

I'm intrigued! does it really work Skeksis? how do you make a gap for them to get in
without letting the light in? or do they just push the curtain aside as they go.
I'd have thought they'd fall asleep in there! I shall be interested to see how you
get on E, I'm willing it to work for you.

[Skeksis]

Just make sure there is a slit in the middle that they can get through, no need for a gap as it will let the light in. Yes Kitla ime it works perfectly every time, instantly as long as it is dark blackout stuff. The egg rate often gets better as hens will choose the dark privacy of a curtained nestbox over an open one.

[Skeksis]

Read this; proof it works (my previous advice)

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=47158&p=667629&hilit=+Curtains#p667629

[kitla]

Oh I missed that before, brilliant! Advice like that would be very handy on a sticky of some sort ...........hey RICHARD!!!

[Richard]

Good advice / help indeed (personally I use the speed method - get the eggs as quick as you can. When it has happened, the problem has only been short lived, they soon get fed up with it !!).

We used to have stickies on a few things, had FAQ's for a while, I decided to stop them

1. They took up a lot of space and the first 'live' post was a long way down.
2. People still asked anyway !
3. Often every subject matter has a different situation.
4. People didn't find it personal enough

There's many a forum thread where the answers are in the web site. Sometimes I reference them, but that's not the same as having a chat amongst ourselves.

So, not saying the idea is not a good one. After a few years of things and certainly discussed it a few times, we felt it best to just carry on.

Richard