Defeating an egg eater!

Oh the challenges of farming! It seems we have an egg eater! The chickens went off laying eggs longer than we thought. Then the evidence was there! Bits and pieces of consumed eggs, even catching the egg eater in action! She's quick though, when she knows she's caught she runs out the other side quickly blending into the flock. I do know she is one of the Speckled Sussex so I am watching them!

So while doing a bit of research, one of the ideas is to put fake eggs in the nests. This will make the egg eater peck at them, it will make her beak sore with the pecking and not getting results she will begin to equate pain with eating the eggs. I then remembered I had these marble eggs in a cabinet.

I added them to each nest box and lets see what happens! Another idea is filling a blown out egg with mustard. Apparently chickens hate the taste of mustard, who knew?!