Apa yang Dapat Anda Lakukan Tentang Ayam Makan Telur

Mengapa Ayam Makan Telurnya Sendiri?

Secara umum, ayam tidak akan memecahkan telur yang baik dan memakannya. Tapi sesekali, pemakan telur memunculkan kepalanya yang jelek dalam kawanan dan bisa sangat sulit dihentikan. Bagi mereka yang bergantung pada ayam mereka untuk telur, makan telur bisa menghancurkan. Tidak hanya menghapus jumlah telur yang bisa dikumpulkan oleh pemilik, tetapi bisa sangat menggelegar secara emosional untuk menyaksikan ayam Anda mencabik-cabik telur dengan nafsu makan yang rakus.

Apakah tujuan Anda adalah untuk mencegah makan telur dari awal atau untuk menghentikan kebiasaan yang ada di kawanan Anda, ada beberapa langkah yang dapat Anda ambil untuk memastikan bahwa kerja keras ayam Anda berakhir di dapur Anda—dan bukan di perut mereka.

Baca terus untuk mengetahui mengapa ayam memakan telurnya sendiri, apa yang dapat Anda lakukan untuk menghentikannya, dan pertanyaan dan jawaban seputar kesalahpahaman umum tentang makan telur.

Nutrisi yang cukup, banyak objek pengayaan, dan pikiran yang sehat sangat penting untuk mencegah kebiasaan makan telur.

Chickens who are bored or who suffer from poor diet are more likely to resort to egg-eating behaviors.

What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Boredom

Enrichment and entertainment for chickens are often overlooked in coop design, but planning a coop that will keep your chickens mentally occupied and engaged is the first crucial step in preventing egg-eating behaviors, as well as other undesired habits like bullying, feather picking, and neurotic behavior. Chickens need puzzles to solve, and without anything else to figure out, they may create their own challenges by trying to crack open eggs to get to the contents.

Hanging treat balls, hiding scratch in piles of leaves, and breaking up the visual space in the coop are all ways you can mitigate boredom in your flock and reduce the risk of egg-eating behaviors. For more ideas and information about keeping chickens engaged while in confinement, please see my article on the subject.

If your hens free range daily, it is fairly safe to rule out boredom as a potential cause for the egg-eating behavior, although once again, you should make sure the shortage of eggs is actually due to egg eating and not some other cause, like a hidden clutch somewhere in the yard.

What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Nutritional Issues

Another major cause of egg-eating is a simple nutritional deficiency. Some hens require more calcium or protein in their diet than their feed provides, particularly when stressed or molting. Without alternative sources for these nutrients, they may resort to eating eggs to get by. You can help mitigate their cravings by providing oyster shells on the side for calcium and treats like mealworms or meat scraps to boost their intake of protein.

Hens who pick and eat feathers—whether off the ground or off of each other—are likely suffering from a protein deficiency. If you notice your chickens eating feathers, try offering extra protein in whatever form is available to you and see if that mitigates the problem.

What to Do If Egg-Eating Is Caused by Mental Illness

Just like with people and all other animals, chickens can suffer from mental illness. Once in a great while, a hen will develop a neurological issue wherein she will feel compelled to break open and eat eggs, and no amount of effort on your part will ever cure her of that. You can cope with her behavior by installing roll-away nesting boxes or by culling her from the flock, but her inclination will always be there.

Culling a hen from the flock may mean having her processed for meat, selling her to someone else with full disclosure of her bad habits, or simply confining her to a separate pen where she cannot raid the nests of her flock mates. It is important that you do not allow her to continue her bad habit in the presence of the rest of the flock, as healthy chickens may pick up on the habit from observing her.