Silkie pecking 6 eggs now

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

This year, we bought one older silky as we started our small flock (mostly chicks). We got past molting and into spring and FINALLY, she's started laying eggs for me. The shell is somewhat thin but definitely, after 6 eggs, it seems intentional to have a hole pecked into the side and the yoke it completely gone when I find them. I cannot be sure it is her doing it, but I feel like it is.

Plus, she is not laying in the nesting boxes. I have only found 1 egg in the box. The rest have all just been on the floor before the boxes or "landing" just at the top of the stairs. 1 egg was on the ground. This last egg was found at 9am. So, even her laying is off schedule.

Did we buy a carniverous hen? I feel like she is much older than we were told (at 1.5 yr old). We love her antics regardless if she produces eggs for us, but I cannot handle if she decides to put holes in all our future eggs. My next pullet is expected to begin laying next month and then 4 more in July.

Help!

 

[sumi]

Have you tried putting golf balls in the nest box for her? This will make the nest box more attractive and hopefully discourage her egg pecking habit as well. I can't imagine pecking a golf ball would be much fun.

 

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

I haven't tried golf balls, but I was thinking about yellow or blue Easter eggs (plastic). Thx.

 

[realsis]

I have silkies too and I caught my youngest one pecking on the egg my oldest one just laid! thank God I caught it in time or she would have also ate the egg. now I try very hard to make sure and remove the eggs as soon as possible because I don't want my little one eating the egg! you can also put wooden eggs in there. I've read a cure for egg eating is a mustard egg. you fill the egg with mustard and when she pecks it she won't like the taste and it will stop her from egg eating. hope this is helpful. good luck.

 

[can you hear me now?]

It has been my experience if their advise does not work. Clean a d eat the chicken. I know silkies are small but usually once they start eating eggs, the habit is pretty hard to break.

 

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

I was doing some reading about filling the eggs with mustard or hot sauce but didn't see where that was very successful.

I absolutely hate the thought of killing and eating her (only had her for 3 months) but I beginning to think this is the reason why she was up for sale. I should have walked the minute I sensed this guy was a shady character.

 

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

Forgot to add this, but I would remove the egg ASAP but she's a highly unpredictable layer. I waited 7 days for her last egg and it was laid before 9 am. I'm keeping my eye out for the next egg. It's been between 48-72 hrs. Seeing if I can catch her.

 

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

Well, she laid in the early hours and when I found egg #7, it was pecked with a hole in it.

I took it to my nearby friend and she said definitely the shell is thin but also it looks like intentional eating. She gave me a glass egg & some golf balls, plus oyster shell to add to my feed. We'll isolate her and see if we can definitely stop this behavior in the next couple of weeks. If not, she has to go. My EE will start laying in late June, then the rest soon to follow through the summer.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

This is just my opinion, so take it for what its worth, but are you SURE the chicken is eating the eggs? When my chickens get an egg, they eat everything. Shell, membrane, insides...usually the only evidence left behind is a wet spot.
Its not really uncommon for chickens to eat a soft egg either (and leave the regular shelled eggs alone completely). When one of ng hens got old, she was laying soft eggs regularly. So regularly that the other chickens came to expect them and would gather around her and gobble it up as soon as it it the ground (she'd stop and lay wherever she happened to be).
Anyway, back to my point. What you're describing sounds alot like when I had a mouse problem. I would find and egg with a whole chewed into it or cracked in half with the insides cleaned out. Sometimes I'd find the empty shells inside the nest box, other times they'd be in the run somewhere or on a shelf in the coop. I'd never seen any evidence of mice, so I figured the chickens were doing it. But I could never catch them. Finally I started trapping for mice as a last ditch effort and discovered I was loaded down with them (ACK)!
So, maybe your chicken isn't even to blame. Or, maybe its just that the soft shell eggs are too tempting and your regular eggs will be fine. My chickens get raw eggs often and I've never had an egg eating problem. Them eating a soft egg now and then isn't going to necessarily lead to a full blown issue.
Good luck, I hope you get it all figured out!

 

[Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn]

Thank you Nikki for your input. We isolated the girl and put in some golf balls with her, as well as some feed with some oyster shells. I suppose a mouse problem could happen to anybody. It's just this is my first couple months of having a coop and we live in a suburb. I was hoping it wouldn't happen for a while.

I think we'll just eliminate all the possibilities one by one.