Egg Eaters..*!?{×}£₽$#@

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:36 am

I've had the occassional situation with my original Rocks where I would go collect eggs and find the remnants of an egg...very little other than a few shards of eggshell and some yolk moistened bedding and for the most part it's been the result of one of the girls stepping on and crunching an already laid egg in her attempts to make herself confortable in her set...no real issue...but...
...these younger bunch managed to find out that eggs are tasty and i've been losing a couple eggs a day minimum and although i haven't managed to catch the specific culprits i have caught the pullets beak deep in spilled yolk...soooooo...not being around ALL the time to police things i decided to build a roll away egg base to a pair of nesting boxes...( Some pix attached )...took me about an hour to do ...all out of scrap lumber bits and OMG!!! It works so well...the base of the nesting box is about 14" x 14" and the drop is created by a piece of 1x2 on edge under the back edge of the base board...that's it..and the "catcher" is about 6" wide and 2" or so between top and bottom...basically its an open sided box with the top hinged ( although I"m thinking its not a requirement in my case) the "catcher" also becomes the block at the bottom of the nesting box, although there cannot be too much nesting material or the eggs won't roll

KimChick · Post by **KimChick** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:48 pm

Interesting idea there. We are also having more problems with the occasional egg being eaten. And I thought the problem had gone away from last time. The most recent one was the same as you - bit of yoke left in the nesting box, wetting the bedding. I scooped it all up and put in fresh bedding and straw. It was in the box that did not have a golf ball; there is one in there now.
I cannot be out there all day policing their activity, either.

tcamp · Post by **tcamp** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:18 pm

I put ceramic or wooden eggs in the nesting boxes, they get tired of pecking on eggs only to end up with a headache

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:51 pm

Cool!

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:39 am

Couple of days now..no eaten eggs, chickens seem comfortable with it...and the eggs are clean...I just use a small amount of pine shavings, too many will prevent egg roll. :running-chicken:

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:11 pm

That is an excellent build, will keep the eggs clean too!

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:36 pm

it really is superb Tom! nice and simple, I like it a lot!

Post by **WLLady** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:01 pm

Very nice!!! I too made some roll out nest boxes last year-mine i put the back up on a brick and have a covered area the egg rolls under with a lid so i can retrieve the eggs.
Plywood scraps too. Good use for leftovers lol
Gotta leave the bedding out tho lol

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 1:42 pm

I've had the same problem...found the culprit with yolk beak and threw her outside. then found the CATS were the ones to blame! Last weekend I had a dozen eggs in a bucket on the front porch and hub left the porch door ajar.....came home to find one big fluffy momma puss surrounded by yolk and shell with only 5 eggs left....grrrrr!! bucket was not knocked over so she must have carried the eggs out to eat....didn't know they could do that.

ross · Post by **ross** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 1:47 pm

TomK wrote:QR_BBPOST Couple of days now..no eaten eggs, chickens seem comfortable with it...and the eggs are clean...I just use a small amount of pine shavings, too many will prevent egg roll. :running-chicken:

Nessessity the mother of invention .
Good stuff man .. Luck