Chickens Pecking Eggs

We had some trouble with our California Whites pecking their eggs a while back.  I read that once they begin doing that, it's nearly impossible to get them to stop.  We tried several different things to rid them of the habit, but when it became apparent that they were going to continue to do so, we ended up having them for dinner.  :)  Because chickens must learn that on the farm, you earn your keep...whether it be via eggs or via chicken and dumplings. 
Well, it came to my attention a few weeks ago that my beloved Black Australorps and four Reds had decided it might be fun to break open a few of their eggs.  I was crushed.  For one, because dang!  I don't wanna eat my favorite chickens!!  And for two, because dang!  They are the only ones laying our family's supply of eggs!
So, I started thinking on ways to break this nasty habit...
I thought....
And I thought.....
And I thought....
And then I thought some more...
I said, "Heck...maybe some oyster shells is what they need."....  Maybe they are cracking their eggs because they need more calcium...
In the meantime, I set about cleaning out the nest boxes and refilling them with fresh pine needles.  Well, the interesting thing was, when I began collecting them, I found that I was mostly getting GREEN needles, whereas usually, the ones you collect off the ground are the dead, brown ones.
The reason these were green was because we had this hellacious storm blow through a week or so ago...it hailed marble-sized pieces of ice like crazy...and the wind was blowing so hard, it nearly bent the old, tall pines around here in half.  Seriously.  The trees were bent over. 
You want to see pictures?  Yes?  Well, ok...anything for you...

The ground looked like it had snowed....  it was crazy...

 

 A picture of the paved road after the storm...ok, so you can't see the tree that fell over

nor all the limbs that broke out of the trees...but, you can see all the leaves and 

needles that were blown out.  Not as titillating, I know... oh, well...

 

So, where was I? Oh, I was refilling the nest boxes with pine needles and getting mostly greens...as a result of the storm.  And I had the thought, "Ohhhhhh.....maybe the smell of the fresh needles will kind of make them lose their appetite for the eggs.. because, I mean, if *I* had to smell green pine needles on my plate, while I would find the scent invigorating, I don't think I would find it appetizing."    Oh, dang...maybe that's a new diet trick....  put a sprig of green needles atop every meal.  Hmmmmm....

Well, guess what?  With the combined effort of giving them oyster shells, green needles, and checking the boxes twice a day so that no egg laid too long in the box, my sweet hens went several days without breaking an egg.  I was ecstatic.  Seriously.  And I really think it was the needles... just sayin.

I have to mention, just because I want to be truthful, that the last couple of days, those darn hens pecked some eggs. Now I'm going to blame that on the fact that I've been really busy and haven't been able to check the nest boxes quite as often.  I am annoyed, but I'm going to replenish the green needles and pull a California White egg pecker out of the freezer and stroll by their pen with it and pray they get the hint.