Soft landing?

[bsshog40]

So, one of my chickens laid another egg. The shell looked better, but still maybe a little thin. Not sure which one it is but, it looked like it was dropped from the roost bar. The egg was sitting right on the edge of the nesting box almost right under the roost bar. It was broke and yolk just under the shell. I mixed some straw with the shavings and they just seem to drag everything out of the nesting boxes. Is there something that I can lay on the nesting box and then cover with shavings so The eggs don't get broke if dropped again? There is the thought that maybe the hen broke it sitting on it and shell still not hard enough. Not really sure. This is the egg below. Thanks for any help.
Bobby

 

[skeeeter]

I hope your birds are just starting to lay, if so, it is a bit normal that they are sometimes surprised and the egg comes out at night.. while they are on the roost. One of the reasons people keep the nest boxes inacessable to pullets is because they don't take them seriously until they start laying well. You just have to keep cleaning up after them til they get the hang of it all. Now, if it were a hen laying from the roost, that most likely indicates that she is scared to get off the roost.(usually this would be caused by over zealous roosters or mean hens). My son totally free ranges, his chickens sleep in the trees. Some neighborhood dogs got loose and came terrorizing these chickens and my wife started finding eggs broken under the tree every day for a week afterwards.

 

[bsshog40]

Ya, new chickens to laying. We only have 4 RIR's. No roosters. I found 2 eggs 4 days ago. One was crushed in the run and the other was real soft shelled. They are on laying feed and we add a little oyster shell to the feed also. I guess I may just be worrying too much as a new chicken owner. Lol We got them at 2 months old and they are right at 5 months old now.

 

[skeeeter]

Great! I've noticed that most people usually give oyster shells in a free choice container on the side. Are your girls getting grass? Laying feed isn't quite adequate nutrition for dual purpose hens, it's more for battery leghorns who get so run down on it that they look 100yrs old at 18months old. The nutrition values could also be affecting the eggshell quality. Lawn mowings is a good source of vitamins if the lawn hasn't been sprayed. [Edited to Note: I can usually only get laying feed here, so I let my chickens out to run each afternoon. They get grass and bugs enough to complete their diet. But, I live on 6acres, so I don't know how that info would help you.]

 

[bsshog40]

We use the 16% protein feed. I throw grass in once a week when I mow. And a little chicken scratch and mealworms occasionally. We were using the 20% protein while they were growing but changed recently to the laying feed. Those are about the only 2 choices we have around here.

 

[nao57]

If you get a lot of broken eggs you can put fake decoy hard eggs that don't break in there. This helps if its the hens themselves or other birds breaking the eggs. Also 'suggests' where to put eggs that is safe. But it won't stop dogs or others from going after eggs.

 

[aart]

they just seem to drag everything out of the nesting boxes.

Pot pics of your nests.

 

[bsshog40]

So no other animals can get to the chicken eggs, let alone the chickens. I don't think one of the chickens broke the egg. The broken side was down with yolk leaked out. I did have a couple fake eggs in there but they kept pushing those out of the boxes. Lol I figured they didn't like them. Here's a pic of their nesting boxes.

 

[aart]

So no other animals can get to the chicken eggs, let alone the chickens. I don't think one of the chickens broke the egg. The broken side was down with yolk leaked out. I did have a couple fake eggs in there but they kept pushing those out of the boxes. Lol I figured they didn't like them. Here's a pic of their nesting boxes.
View attachment 3874520

They're pushing them out of nest onto the ground shown here?

 

[bsshog40]

They're pushing them out of nest onto the ground shown here?

No, what you are seeing is the nesting boxes inside the coop. They seem to get in the box and rake it out into the coop side. Lol what you see on the ground is just stuff that falls out of my container when I'm putting more in.