Crap. I found the remains of an egg today.

[chx]

Hello all! I've searched and read several threads on here and I'm sorry if I missed the one with the relevant information for me. I have a rooster, 2 laying hens and 4 pullets, at least one of which has begun to lay. Today I looked in the nesting boxes and found a wet spot. Closer examination revealed the remains of an egg yolk, and one or more chickens had clearly cleaned up the bits of shell plus whatever other remains they could get their beaks on.

Everything I've read on here while searching indicates that once a hen learns to eat eggs, she won't stop and furthermore will likely teach the others to do the same. I work full time during the day and I'm single right now so it's quite difficult to get eyes on who might be eating eggs. What is the best next step?

 

[Squawkers]

Could you invest in a camera to see what exactly is going on? Maybe they are shell less, if that’s the case it is no surprise or worry that they are eating them. Any chance you have another animal getting in the coop? Was it just one egg?

 

[nuthatched]

Blow out some eggs and fill them with yellow or orange dish soap. Up the protein on their feed.

 

[Squawkers]

If it was just this one egg, I’d just wait and see what happens.

 

[aart]

I'd wait on doing anything drastic, like soap...probably a soft or thin shell from one of the new layers.

 

[Sally PB]

^^This.

I occasionally get a thin shelled egg in a nest. If it breaks, it gets eaten. Sometimes just the pullet/hen moving around in the nest box will break the egg.

So far -- knock on wood! -- no hen has broken an egg on purpose in order to eat it.

 

[chx]

Could you invest in a camera to see what exactly is going on? Maybe they are shell less, if that’s the case it is no surprise or worry that they are eating them. Any chance you have another animal getting in the coop? Was it just one egg?

I've considered this. Installing a camera permanently would be a bit of a technical problem (I can explain this in more detail if desired) and I'd have to source power to the coop camera as well. A temporary camera could be made to work though.

For all the other replies... thank you for the advice on filling an egg with dish soap, and for those advising to wait and see. Whichever pullet(s) is/are laying at the moment have, so far in the past 8 days or so since the first egg, have laid eggs with good shells. I'd be surprised to see a soft-shell or no-shell egg but then again I'm still relatively new at this chicken thing and am always learning!

At this point then, given all of the advice above from chicken owners who are far more experienced than myself, I've decided to wait and see what happens in the next day or so and I will post back here with the results!

 

[chx]

@Squawkers I'm sorry, I forgot to address your other question; yes I am sure no other animal got in the coop. I had a coon get in there once but I killed it. The only other thing I've ever seen in there was some rat droppings which ceased when I started bringing the feeder in at night. Never anything during the day so far, all my coop intrusions have been at night.

 

[Squawkers]

@Squawkers I'm sorry, I forgot to address your other question; yes I am sure no other animal got in the coop. I had a coon get in there once but I killed it. The only other thing I've ever seen in there was some rat droppings which ceased when I started bringing the feeder in at night. Never anything during the day so far, all my coop intrusions have been at night.

That’s ok! So (as you said above) it sounds like you had a soft or no shelled egg.

 

[Yardmom]

What are you feeding? Do you provide any extra calcium such as oyster shells?
When pullets first start to lay it is not unusual for them to have an egg that is not quite what it should be, so a soft shell egg is possible.
If you do find that one of your birds is eating fully shelled eggs, I suggest increasing protein and providing extra calcium. Many egg eating cases are due to a lack of nutrition.