chickens gobble up soft shell egg

[Roadstump]

I witnessed a rather odd behavior today. I was sitting watching my 8 pullets taking their evening dust baths, pecking and scratching around. Of the 8 hens, 6 lay brown eggs and 2 lay green. One of the green layers (Amaracauna) is not laying yet so all but the one layed today.

I noticed one of the RIR fluff up and stop pecking around. She stood there as if frozen. She was all fluffed up and her rear end lifted in the air and slowly started to lower. My first thought was she was getting ready to poop and perhaps constipated or something. Then out popped a tranluscent shelled egg. I could tell it was soft shelled and almost clear. Within a second all 7 hens ran to the egg, popped it and gobbled it up faster than I could get out of my chair.

What is strange to me is that I know she laid an egg earlier, can they lay 2 a day? should this have been tomorrow's egg? All of them are laying in the nest boxes. Why did she drop it in the run and not in the nest? And the biggest question, why did the other hens run to eat it yet don't eat the ones in the nest every day..

Ideas?

 

[lucyboo]

well...... no thats no posable for them to lay 2 eggs a day. oh my gosh i have never heard anything like that!!!! you might want to call the vet and ask over the phone or something!!!! but as for the other hens eating the egg and not the ones in the laying boxs, i think because it fell they might of thought it was food to eat and so the ran and before the relized it it was eatin. my chicken almost ate a mole when it moved fast! lol but i got the chicken away from it before she killed it. i really recomend either going to the vet or just calling. best of luck!!!
God bless!

<3 lucyboo

 

[Backyard Barb]

It is possible to have two eggs in a day, but one is almost certain to be a dud when it happens. . . It maybe nothing (just a dud) or it may be egg drop syndrome. In case its egg drop you really have to keep the others from eating the egg because egg drop is caused by a virus and is spread between hens by egg eating. Give them extra oyster shells and hope for the best.

As to you question why they dont normally eat their eggs? Evolution I guess. If they ate good eggs, they would all die out. Chickens have no reservations about eating a dud however. Just try not to let them do it. If a chicken really gets a taste for eggs, they will some times start to eat good eggs.

Chickens are really mini-velociraptor. They will gladly eat small rodents, salamanders, etc.