The mystery of the missing eggs

[SugarRiverFlock]

We have a flock of six chickens who we got as chicks in March. Until recently, we had only one six-egg day ever and we were baffled that one of the hens (who we call Floppy due to her comb) had never again laid an egg. Last week, we had a five-egg day and found remains of a sixth egg in one of our two nest boxes, which means that Floppy is laying eggs and one of them ate it. Prior to this, we had found no egg remains to indicate that one of the hens might be eating her egg. For the next three days, we isolated Floppy in the morning, and she laid an egg like clockwork at 9am. Today, we decided to put her back with the others to see if she would lay an egg, and tonight when I checked there was no egg of hers. We are at the point where we can identify each hen's egg, and Floppy's eggs are distinct from the others, so it's not that her eggs have been getting misidentified. We clean out the coop about every two weeks and have not found any egg remains.

The hens stay in their fully enclosed run all day as we have foxes in the area. We let them out for an hour or two in the afternoon for supervised outside time. We usually check for eggs three times a day and inspect the whole coop for any strays, as when they began to lay the hens would lay their eggs in any corner and sometimes outside although they are pretty consistent about laying in their nest boxes now. One other hen did have an egg eating problem about a month ago where she would eat her own egg or our Ameraucana's egg, but we were able to resolve it and re-integrate her with the flock. While she was isolated we did not get an egg from Floppy, which to me rules out the chance that our egg eater was eating Floppy's egg.

Has anyone had eggs disappear without a trace before? Any suggestions of what to look for? Could Floppy simply be too stressed with the others to lay an egg?

Picture of Floppy for attention.

 

[WingItRanch]

Following because I'm curious..

Was the egg you received from Floppy when you separated her thin-shelled? Maybe it's possible you have an egg eater but the other eggs are thicker shelled so whichever pullet is eating eggs can only break through Floopy's. This is just speculation on my part.

Have you thought about putting a camera in your coop? Or roll-away nesting boxes?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I love a mystery! Curious, how is Floppy's egg identifiable from the other hens' eggs?

 

[SugarRiverFlock]

Following because I'm curious..

Was the egg you received from Floppy when you separated her thin-shelled? Maybe it's possible you have an egg eater but the other eggs are thicker shelled so whichever pullet is eating eggs can only break through Floopy's. This is just speculation on my part.

Have you thought about putting a camera in your coop? Or roll-away nesting boxes?

Her egg was about the same hardness as the others. We have thought about putting some type of security cam in there but haven't found one that we like.

 

[SugarRiverFlock]

I love a mystery! Curious, how is Floppy's egg identifiable from the other hens' eggs?

I label each hen's egg when I collect it and keep a spreadsheet for tracking egg production. As each one has started laying I've learned to identify which egg belongs to which hen by shape and color, so when Floppy laid her eggs in isolation I could tell that I hadn't picked up any of hers in the coop before.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If a hen eats an egg, they can do so without leaving a trace, ingesting shell and all. I have seen them do it. The hen I caught in the act had an entire half shell before her when I spotted her, and in a flash she just gulped it down, then gave a mighty, terrified squawk (eek! I'm busted!") and flew off the nest and out the coop door in a panic. It was the last time I ever saw any evidence of broken eggs in the nests, and prior to that it had been a fairly regular occurrence. Admittedly, I did holler after her that if I ever caught her at it again she'd be soup!

 

[SugarRiverFlock]

Since my first post Floppy has laid an egg every day. Our strongest theory is now that the eaten egg was actually Floppy's first and that she is a late bloomer. A supporting detail is that her first two eggs in isolation had a bit of a blood stain on them, which is common for hens when they first start laying. The single six-egg day could be explained by the egg actually being from another hen and being missed the day before.

 

[PoppasGrill]

We regularly have egg coated eggs in a few nest boxes. Don’t know if there are certain hens that are spiteful of other hens eggs or if she is lifting up too far and the egg is breaking when it contacts the other eggs.
We are leaning towards the former as there is rarely any shell left when we find the mess.
Also , it is always the same nests, our Ladies have their favorite boxes and will hold it and scream until the box is open for them to use.