I went out to the barn this morning to collect eggs. Although usually we collect them once or twice a day, this time I hadn't collected any for a day or two. Usually when this happens there are tons of them, of course. This time I could only find six; a pretty puny number considering we have 38 hens. They are always looking for new places to lay where they can hide the eggs, especially this time of year, so I know that's part of it...just haven't found the new hiding place. I put the eggs in my collection basket and put the basket on the ground for a few minutes and turned my back while I attended to one of the hens. When I returned to the basket, all the eggs were gone...only a few pieces of shell! Recently we have noticed them eating other eggs occasionally, although normally they will only do it if there is a broken one. We have been putting egg shells in our compost pile and the chickens have been foraging there...could this be why they've developed a taste for eggs? They have never been this bad before. Or is it a dietary deficiency of some kind? We feed them layer mixed with scratch, they free range, and also have oyster shell if they need it.