chickens pecking at their own eggs

[kerpob]

Hi we have three pekins who are laying well - however one has started recently pecking at her newly laid egg and that of the rest of the group. The eggs are then ruined of course. Any tips?

maybe she needs some grit in her diet?And so she is trying to eat the shell? Also she may have had a nibble on one and tasted how good they are so you might have to whip them out as quickly as possible!

Look for white ceramic eggs at the agricultural merchants. When I had a pecker (who had plenty of grit) I put these in the nest boxes. It seemed to do the trick.

we just put a golf ball in their nesting box for a few days

Grit and faux eggs are a good idea also try to make sure that the nestbox is as dark as possible. That will help. Collect the eggs as soon as you can, so that the behaviour is not being reinforced.

She has plenty of grit - will try the ceramic egg/golf ball idea. Thanks!

if you have a dog walk them near a golf course ...........if dog like mine they will bring you back a free golf ball

i watched the ringleader (top hen) peck it and look surprised, she tried again and when she didnt get some tasty egg to eat she didnt bother again

take an egg, make a little hole and empty it out as far as possible (does not need to be emptied totally), mix some mustard with water to make it more liquid and pour this mixture in egg, put egg back in nest box. You may need to do this a few days in a row, depending on how stubborn your hens are. They will hate the mustard and will stop pecking eggs.