Broken egg in nest box

[TwoShepherds]

Do chickens ever accidently break eggs while they are jostling around in the nest boxes, particularly newish layers?

Twice in the last two weeks, I have found a broken egg in the girls' favorite nest box. I have twelve pullets, hatched May 13th. I think the first broken egg happened around the time the orpingtons and brahmas started laying/showing interest in the nest boxes.

I feed an all-flock/chick grower feed by Purina and have oyster shells available on the side, which I replenish as needed. I have ceramic eggs in the boxes, and the boxes are filled with pine shavings.

Do you think the eggs are accidently being broken by inexperienced pullets or should I be worried about a bird purposely breaking/eating eggs? The broken eggs I have found do not seem to be eaten (unless I simply interrupted them before they could eat). Should I feed a layer feed since I have all pullets? Should I line the nest boxes with another material? Is there something I am not doing that I should be?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Yes, sometimes those new layers will get a little too forceful when rearranging the nest to to their liking. I found more broken eggs when I used pine shavings than when I used hay.
What size are your nest boxes? Could the be too small for your birds?

I am looking for straw to line the nest boxes with, but I think I will stay with a thin layer of pine shavings under the straw. The pine shavings make it easier to clean up the broken egg gunk - which is why I changed to pine shavings to begin with. I had a chcicken laying soft shelled eggs and I couldn't figure out which one it was - lost brown layers all look alike. Last winter the eggs froze before I got home from work to collect them and the hens started to eat the broken ones. Now I have 2 hens that break eggs to eat them - so make sure to clean up the broken eggs as soon as you can so they don't get into that habit.

 

[aart]

Do chickens ever accidently break eggs while they are jostling around in the nest boxes, particularly newish layers?

Yup!
They can get pretty rambunctious arranging the bedding at first.
Where the shells good and hard?
How 'broken' were they?
Pics of broken eggs and nests would help here.

 

[TwoShepherds]

Yes, sometimes those new layers will get a little too forceful when rearranging the nest to to their liking. I found more broken eggs when I used pine shavings than when I used hay.
What size are your nest boxes? Could the be too small for your birds?

I am looking for straw to line the nest boxes with, but I think I will stay with a thin layer of pine shavings under the straw. The pine shavings make it easier to clean up the broken egg gunk - which is why I changed to pine shavings to begin with. I had a chcicken laying soft shelled eggs and I couldn't figure out which one it was - lost brown layers all look alike. Last winter the eggs froze before I got home from work to collect them and the hens started to eat the broken ones. Now I have 2 hens that break eggs to eat them - so make sure to clean up the broken eggs as soon as you can so they don't get into that habit.

Thanks for the feedback! The nest boxes are about 1 ft square, I believe. I cleaned up the eggs as soon as I saw them. I realized there's a feed store in town that I haven't been to, so of course I have to check it out tomorrow. I will pick up some straw or hay to put over the pine shavings to see if that helps. I cleaned up the eggs as soon as I found them... yes, I'm a little worried they'll develop a taste for eggs if they keep breaking.

Yup!
They can get pretty rambunctious arranging the bedding at first.
Where the shells good and hard?
How 'broken' were they?
Pics of broken eggs and nests would help here.

Thanks Aart! I should have taken a picture of the eggs. I realized that almost as soon as I scooped them out and dumped them. Both times the broken egg was lying with an egg that had not been. There were several big chunks of egg shell with the yolks and white spilled out in the pine shavings. I haven't noticed any soft shells. For a week or two, someone was laying an egg that had some slight irregularities (calcium deposits, I think) but I haven't found one of those for a while.

It's too dark to take photos of the coop right now, but these are some stock photos of the same model.

 

[aart]

There were several big chunks of egg shell with the yolks and white spilled out in the pine shavings.

Was the remaining shell good and thick?

I hate broken eggs in the nest....what a mess!
Have put a pieces of vinyl in bottom of nests, then I can lift the whole mess out and replace with the extra piece of vinyl and more straw very quickly.
I also have a way to block a nest if I don't have time to clean it right away.

 

[TwoShepherds]

Vinyl is a great idea for cleaning! I bet it makes the bottom of the box softer also. I will have to pick some up. I think the egg shell seemed normal, but I'm kicking myself for not examining it better. I was distracted at the time because I realized I was also missing one of my 6 ceramic eggs. I was worried (slightly horrified, may be a better word!) that we had a snake getting in the coop and taking eggs. I can't believe I'm about to admit this on a public forum, but after looking all over in the coop, run, and compost bin, I found the fake egg in an egg carton that I had been putting eggs in the previous day. Oops. I felt quite foolish. All of my fakes have smiley faces drawn on them now.

Anyway, thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom! I am going to get some straw, vinyl, and hope my eggs were just thin-shelled and broken by clumsy new layers and not egg-eaters. :/

 

[aart]

Vinyl is a great idea for cleaning! I bet it makes the bottom of the box softer also. I will have to pick some up. I think the egg shell seemed normal, but I'm kicking myself for not examining it better. I was distracted at the time because I realized I was also missing one of my 6 ceramic eggs. I was worried (slightly horrified, may be a better word!) that we had a snake getting in the coop and taking eggs. I can't believe I'm about to admit this on a public forum, but after looking all over in the coop, run, and compost bin, I found the fake egg in an egg carton that I had been putting eggs in the previous day. Oops. I felt quite stupid. All of my fakes have smiley faces drawn on them now.

Anyway, thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom! I am going to get some straw, vinyl, and hope my eggs were just thin-shelled and broken by clumsy new layers and not egg-eaters. :/

Ha!! BTDT, many others have also. Mine have a fat sharpie line drawn all the way around them now.

The vinyl is great, fits just tight in the bottom. I scrape into bedding, then wash in laundry tub, dry on one of those pants hangers with the clips, then stash in the coop laying flat on a shelf until needed again.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@aart I love your linoleum idea. I will be getting some scrap material and making some for my egg boxes.

@TwoShepherds I wouldn't worry about having egg eaters if they have just started laying recently.
I know mine got in the habit last winter when the eggs froze and burst open during the extreme cold (-30*F). I also removed the golf balls that I had in the nests and the litter of kittens have lost them all somewhere in the barn, lol. I need to pick up some fake eggs to put in there as that may stop them from pecking the eggs open of purpose. I think I know the culprit - and with a fake egg for her to peck on I may be able to confirm my suspicion. It is natural for them to clean up a mess from a broken egg in the nest - one of those survival instincts I think.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Another option other than scrap vinyl/linoleum is folding feed bags (I use the plastic coated ones for this purpose) to fit the bottom of the nest box. They're free and have the added benefit of providing padding in a nest box.

If the mess is bad, I'd just pick up the whole thing and toss it. If it's not too dirty, you can hose or wipe them off, set them aside to dry, and reuse. They last a long time if they don't get badly soiled.

 

[TwoShepherds]

Another option other than scrap vinyl/linoleum is folding feed bags (I use the plastic coated ones for this purpose) to fit the bottom of the nest box. They're free and have the added benefit of providing padding in a nest box.

If the mess is bad, I'd just pick up the whole thing and toss it. If it's not too dirty, you can hose or wipe them off, set them aside to dry, and reuse. They last a long time if they don't get badly soiled.

Thanks, that is an awesome idea too. The bags are really durable, we always have some around, and I like the idea of reusing something I'd otherwise throw away.