broken eggs in nesting boxes

[gambler]

I have 13 hens and just about every day I find at least one broken egg in the nesting boxes. Why do I have so many broken eggs? The boxes have 4 inches of wood shavings in them to give the eggs a soft landing.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

They're breaking and eating them most likely. Put some ceramic eggs or golf balls in there. Make sure they are getting free choice oyster shell. It took care of my egg eater...

 

[woodmort]

Are you feeding oyster shell? Sometimes the egg shells are so thin the birds break them just moving around. Of course there is always the possibility that one of your birds is doing it--not eating the eggs exactly but just breaking them.

 

[bobbi-j]

Do any cats have access to your nest boxes? They'll break an egg and eat it.

 

[gambler]

yes I feed oyster shell. Today I had 3 broken eggs. each one was in a different nesting box but there were other eggs in those same boxes that weren't broken.

 

[gambler]

Quote:
No cat access.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What does the break look like? Is it a small puncture, maybe like a chicken pecked at it and broke it. A large hole? Is the whole egg crushed?

With one broken in each of three nests, it sounds like something is breaking them. I'd suspect a chicken or maybe a rat. Skunks and possums are possibilitie too and could be out during the daytime, but I'd expect them to be more likely to come around at night, especially possums. Rats will come out during the day.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I recently found two of my birds eating egg in the run. Someone must have layed an egg out there. They ate the shell and were just working on the egg. I removed it immediately. A couple of days later I found an egg in the nest box that had obviously been pecked at. There was a hole in the shell but the membrane was still intact. I don't know who the culprit is. I'm hoping she'll stop. I use oyster shell and after reading this thread I'll put the golf balls back in the nest. I'd like to nip this in the bud!

 

[33yardbirds]

In spite of how deep the straw was in the box one hen would scratch down to the hard pan and break the egg laying. My wife lined the bottom of the box with a double layer of rubber mesh shelf lining. Our problem was solved.

 

[alexgman]

Quote:
May be the shell is not enough strong. It happen when your hen has calcium deficiency.