Chickens eating eggs

A five-year old boy broke an egg and and didn't tell me about it until the chickens had already eaten it. I have young hens that just started laying. I really don't want to have to eat them because they're eating their eggs. I'm not going to keep feeding them if they eat many eggs. Will they start breaking eggs themselves so they can eat them? What can I do to prevent it besides not letting the kid break anymore?

I feed mine eggs and don't have issues. As long as the eggs are in the nests. An egg randomly on the ground is free game to them.

If you're worried they're going to start, golf balls are supposed to help. Put them in the nests to mimick eggs. Not fun trying to peck a golf ball.

I managed to stop my egg eating problem by leaving lots of those plastic Easter eggs around in the nests. One or two per nest did the trick for my flock. My friend uses old ceramic decorative eggs that she found at a flea market. The hens don't seem to care that they have flowers and balloons painted on them.

Remove the broke eggs immediately. Mine only eat them when they break. If they lay in nesting boxes make sure you stay on top of the bedding material. My breakage was a result of laziness on my part, keeping bedding material in the boxes

I give mine eggs all the time, especially when I find a hidden nest or something... Never had problems with an egg eater. Keep the shells strong with oyster shell or whatever you use for calcium, and they should be fine. I've always seen that if a hen manages to eat an egg, it was either already cracked, or had an unusually thin shell.

If anyone ever does have a problem with hens eating eggs that they shouldn't just take a fresh egg shell and get some chilli powder, curry powder and maybe some black pepper powder or anything that'll set their mouths on fire and make a paste with a little water then coat the inside of the eggshell with it. That hen will never touch another egg after trying that egg, yes I've tried it too.