8 Causes of Egg Eating in Chickens
Egg eating is a problem which is common in chickens, where hens eat their eggs and eggs of other chickens, causing reduction in the number of eggs available for sale or home consumption. If not taking preventive measures, this condition can likely cause a serious loss to your poultry farming business. This article will have a look at the causes of egg eating in chickens and ways to have this problem solved in your poultry birds.
8 Common Causes of Egg eating in Chickens
The following are the common causes of egg eating in chickens.
1. Overcrowding
The majority of smallholder farmers keep more chickens on a small space, violating the rule of thumb of 3 square feet per chicken. This makes your poultry birds to cramp together within the small space. This accelerates egg eating.
Overcrowding may force your laying hens to share nesting boxes , which will likely encourage egg eating. When this egg eating occurs, it becomes a huge loss since many eggs are lost.
2. Limited nesting boxes
Lack of enough nesting boxes cause laying hens to lay their eggs at inappropriate places rather than in their nesting boxes. This accelerates egg breakage during their egg laying time. When your hen sees a broken egg, it will likely eat it.
3. Stress
Stress in your chickens has a potential to reduce the egg quality and egg weight. When poor quality eggs are laid , they can get broken easily during the egg laying time, and these broken eggs will likely be eaten by your stressed hen.
Chicken stress put another threat to your birds as it can likely cause damage to the growing embryo of your chickens.
4. Poor diet
Lack of a balanced diet is another common cause of egg eating in chickens. Each hen requires a calcium intake of 4 grams to 5 grams every day during egg laying period. Therefore, hens are susceptible to eating their eggs when they lack calcium in their diets.
5. Dehydration and hunger
Lack of enough fresh drinking water and enough feeds is another cause of egg eating in poultry. An hungry hen, will likely crack and eat its eggs. Lack of enough fresh water and hunger, will likely result in egg drop, and this causes losses to your agribusiness.
6. Omnivorous characteristics
Chickens are omnivorous animals, which eat both eat plants and animal products. This partly explains why they crack and eat their own eggs.
7. Poor lighting
Hens prefer dark areas to lay their eggs and corners. Anything over 16-17 hours is too much light and will stress out the hen, and this will likely cause egg eating.
In dark areas, the laying hen, will unlikely see their laid eggs and will less likely eat it. However, it doesn’t mean that you should allow your hens to lay eggs in the dark throughout. You should provide at least 14-15 hours of lighting daily.
8. Young and inexperienced
When hens lay their first eggs, usually they are thin and weak-shelled eggs. Due to their eggs' softness, they will likely crack with the slightest impact. This will likely cause these young inexperienced layers to confuse their own eggs for food, resulting in breaking and eating them.
6 Ways to Stop Your Chickens from Eating Their Eggs
1. Feed your chickens balanced diet
You should provide your chickens enough feeds which is a well balanced diet. You should ensure your feeds, you are providing have enough calcium required.
2. Darken the nesting box
Dark areas will likely make your laying hen to crack and eat their own eggs. Chickens will unlikely see in the dark, so they are less likely to turn to their eggs if it’s dim or dark. You could install curtains in the nest box and keep them partially opened until the hens get used to the additional feature.
3. Frequent egg collection
You should ensure each and every egg laid is collected and kept. Chickens can’t eat eggs that they don’t have, so you should collect the eggs as soon as possible, especially if you want to stop the already developed egg-eating behavior.
4. Build slanted nesting boxes
You should build slanted nesting boxes which will make the chicken eggs disappear. This slanted item will allow the egg to roll away and get from the beak’s reach immediately after the hen lays.
5. Provide cushioned nesting spot
You should place soft materials like pads, straws, or hay in your nesting boxes, which will cushion the eggs from hitting hard materials, which could likely accelerate breakage. This will prevent egg breakage that can prompt egg-eating.
6. Pay attention to your chickens’ welfare
You should ensure, your chickens are getting enough fresh feeds, which has required nutrients. In addition, you should ensure the chicken house is well cleaned and has fresh water all the time. You should also consider factors like nesting space and stressors like the number of chickens in the coop.