Do chickens eat their own eggs? Yes, sometimes unfortunately it can happen. This is a phenomenon known as oopophagy, which can have different causes and towards which different solutions can be taken. But let’s go in order.
If raised in the wild, or in any case in very large spaces, with access to pasture and the possibility of moving around a lot, hens very rarely take up the habit of feeding on eggs. This happens instead mainly if the animals are in small pens, with an insufficient number of nests in relation to the hens housed and if the animals’ diet is in some way unbalanced.
In these situations, it can happen that a hen accidentally breaks one of the eggs laid by her or her companions. Intrigued by the bright color of the yolk, she tasted it, immediately discovering the goodness of this product. This hen will then begin to crack and eat eggs when she gets the chance, and by imitation other inhabitants of the coop may learn to do the same.
If the chickens continue to eat their eggs, try placing white and orange ping pong balls in the nests. The hens will initially peck at them, thinking they are eggs, but then they will give up and may start to consider even the real eggs inedible. Another more radical and above all more invasive system for animals can be the application of special plastic goggles to be fixed to the beak, which prevent birds from normal vision and in fact reduce the chances of them eating eggs.
Novital offers you concrete and simple help to solve the problem of hens eating their own eggs: our laying hens nests with egg tray. The sloping bottom of the layer’s nest means that the egg, once laid by the hen, rolls gently into the front box thus becoming inaccessible for birds. Through the practical opening lid it will be easy to collect the clean eggs and avoid seeing them eaten by the chickens. The nest, supplied disassembled to facilitate transport, can be fixed to the walls of the chicken coop by hooks and lends itself to making a battery of nests. Thanks to this nest, it will be easy to deal with the problem of opophagy if it should arise, and protect the precious eggs from the not always benevolent attention of some hens… greedy!
In addition to the non-toxic and modular plastic nest, a galvanized sheet metal version is also available, which can also be used in series, and can also be mounted with front or rear opening.
And remember that Novital is by your side every day with its incubators and poultry breeding products, to be by your side in achieving the success of your farm!
