[Catsmuvva]

One of my girls has been laying soft shelled/membrane only eggs for a while now and either she or another of them started eating the yolks. I have now started supplementing their diet with Life-Guard added to their water (they already have Ex-Batts pellets, mixed corn, access to mixed grit & oyster shell and they free-range all day) and am finally getting slightly harder shells but the egg-eating pattern seems to have become established. Today all 6 gave me an egg each but 4 of them were broken open and the yolks gone. The first happened before I opened the house at 7am (I overslept!), then I rescued 1 laid a short while later and the rest I found when I returned home after going out for the morning, 1 was intact and the others squashed/pecked and devoured.

I've read up on other people's egg-eating problems on the forum and there seem to be differing reactions to the mustard or other hot stuff treatment. A friend has said the only way to stop the culprit is to send her to heaven but as I repatriated them from battery hell I'd like to give them more of a chance - besides, they're family!

Can anyone offer any help please? There's no room to incorporate a roll-away system.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Have you tried the mustard / chilli solution yet?