[peter rooster]

Hi

I have not been gettin many eggs from my 5 marans, between 3 and 1 per day. Just been up to give afternoon corn and one they are eating a broken egg . They tend to lay outside and ponly 1 uses the nesting boxes .  I have never found any broken shell in the run or boxes. Will they eat all the egg and shell?. How do I stop them?.

peter rooster

[PaulineM]

Hi
Don't panic yet. 
All hens will give an egg a little peck after it has been layed, if the shell cracks they will eat that egg to hide any evidence from preditors.
Was the shell particularly thin?
I had one hen that layed thin shelled eggs and she always ate them if they cracked but not if they survived her peck, she also never touched anyone elses eggs. 
Just keep an eye on them it might just be a one off.

[peter rooster]

Hi

Look like it is not a one off, no eggs for three days. Today I saw a hen on the nest box ready to lay checked latter no egg with the noise I belive she layed. What to do next?

[AL Hathaway]

If your hens are already eating their own eggs, if you can manage and resolve this cannibalism problem with several changes to your hens’ care and feeding regime

* If shells of the eggs are thin and weak, Give your egg layers a calcium supplement, like a side hopper of limestone or oyster shells. The extra calcium in their diet improves egg shell strength, which will help lower your egg-eating problems.
   
* Not enough nest space provided. Provide at least one standard nest for each four hens.
   
* Keep plenty of soft nesting material in the nest so eggs will have a cushion on which to lay.

* Collect the eggs more regularly, at least 2 or 3 times daily. The longer the eggs remain in the nest, the greater chance of breakage and consumption.

 * Remove the offending hen. Typically, egg eating starts with one or two hens and the habit gets learned by the other hens. Observe your flock of chickens carefully as soon as you notice a problem with hens eating their own eggs. Once you spot the hen (or hens) with pieces of eggshell or egg yolk on their beak, remove them from the flock immediately.

* Provide plenty of clean, fresh drinking water. Hens need greater amounts of water than other birds and may consume their eggs for the liquid content.

* Maintain a disease-free flock that is treated regularly for internal and external parasites.
                                  YOU could Try this it might work

 * Fill a dish with milk and let your hens drink it. Do this for several days and you’ll see a decreased problem with egg eating.

   
 * Trick your hens. beating an egg into a creamy liquid, adding 4 tablespoons. of ground black pepper, and pouring it onto the floor of your chicken coop the hens will peck at it and find the taste disagreeable, thus curing them of the egg eating habit.

but if all else fails you can separate the naught egg eater or eaters in to her/their own run and coop and let them live out there lives eating their own eggs or cull them but there might be other things to try before that last step.