Why did my hen eat her own egg ?

[shelbylewis]

I have 7 hens and 1 rooster, 3 of the hens are laying and just about a year old. The other 4 pullets are 5 months old. My original flock was fed a 50:50 ratio of Natures Best organic egg layer crumbles and Manna Pro All Flock with probiotic. Since the new pullets were only a few months old I switched the egg layer crumbles out for the Natures Best starter/grower crumbles and kept the same ratio with the all flock crumbles and added a side of oyster shell for calcium supply. My hens have been laying normally otherwise and when I went to collect the eggs tonight one was cracked open and eaten. I have read that this will happen when they are trying to supplement for a lack in protein but the starter/grower has more protein than the layer crumbles. I have 16 nesting boxes in my coop so there is definitely more than enough for all. My coop/run is also pretty big so I don’t think it’s because of over crowding. I’ll attach a picture of my coop/run. What other reasons are there for them to eat their eggs?

 

[shelbylewis]

Well I guess technically 12 boxes since the bottom 4 are unusually but still plenty of space i don’t even have 12 hens lol

 

[Criticalicious]

Sometimes an egg will get broken by accident, stepped on, rolled around, or rolled out of the nest box. And then it becomes food.

You may want to put a lip on the nest boxes to prevent eggs from rolling out.

 

[shelbylewis]

Sometimes an egg will get broken by accident, stepped on, rolled around, or rolled out of the nest box. And then it becomes food.

You may want to put a lip on the nest boxes to prevent eggs from rolling out.

There is a lip on all of them now, this was taken while he was out cutting the wood actually haha. Thanks for your response! The egg was actually broken and eaten in the box she laid it in. I’m hoping it broke accidentally and she just decided to eat it then!

 

[feathermaid]

Yep, it could just be an isolated incident. Sometimes new pullets will be curious about the eggs and give a couple inspection pecks, which may crack the egg and a delicious snack is revealed. Hopefully it doesn't become a habit because sometimes the "treat" factor outweighs the actual need for protein and intentional breaking can continue. You could try putting ceramic eggs or golf balls in the boxes to discourage curious pecking.
Oh, and make sure there's enough padding in the boxes. Chickens actually stand up when the egg is laid so it drops a little distance.

 

[aart]

The egg was actually broken and eaten in the box she laid it in. I’m hoping it broke accidentally and she just decided to eat it then!

Was there any shell left in nest?
If so, was shell particularly thin?

 

[shelbylewis]

Was there any shell left in nest?
If so, was shell particularly thin?

there was some shell left, it was not thin enough for me to notice but is very possible that it cracked upon exit

 

[rosemarythyme]

I rarely find eaten eggs but the last one I found was in the nestbox. 3 pullets/hens used the favorite box one right after another, so I think between all the jostling around the eggs smashed against each other and the fake eggs, especially since my clumsiest bird was the last in the line.