Advice and help please

[mrswadders]

I think we have an egg eater We've had no eggs since last weekend, I thought maybe it was a rat or suchlike, however when I checked yesterday I found the remains of shell in the coop so it looks like we have a very naughty chicken. My problem is we have 7 so how am I going to establish which one it is and is there anything I can do to stop this?

Many thanks

[Feral007]

I'm watching this space jic it ever happens here.

[RedThorn]

inserting a hollowed out egg filled with mustard paste into the nest box?

Collecting the eggs as soon as they proudly announced their success is also an option

[mrswadders]

great thanks i'll try that, i've also been g****gling and theres various suggestions including putting 'fake' eggs in the nest box andtipping the box slighly so they roll to the back. I'll try both of these when I get home, Feral i'll keep you posted

[Nicos]

We have a couple of clumsy gals and we tend to get 2 or 3 broken eggs a week- then they get eaten.

Thinking of asking OH ( when he has time- ha! ) to build a roll away laying box.
Maybe something like that would help you MrsW?

[Scarlet]

Make sure the nest box is very dark and collect the eggs promptly. Or use roll away nest boxes as Nicos suggests. I have tried chilli sauce in eggs which did the trick but if it takes too long the best option is to get rid of the bird. Once they get in to a bad habit its very hard to break and the others follow on quickly.

[Scarlet]

The egg eater is usually the one hanging around the coop!

[RichmondHens]

Agree with Scarlet I'm afraid. Try a deterrent but if this doesn't work then cull the naughty one. As a last resort you could isolate the naughty one and be vigilant about collecting her eggs, but you would have to do this for at least 4 weeks to ensure she forgets what they taste like. If she is allowed to eat just one then she will slip back into her old habit.

[mrswadders]

bit of an update, we put an extra nest box in the coop and tilted them, also put in a couple of 'plastic' eggs and so far we've had 4 eggs a day over the weekend, although we were around to check a few times so we'll see what happens today.....watch this space!