A hen ate an egg yesterday

[cinader]

I have fourteen hens and one rooster. They have a coop with eight nesting boxes and a run. We've had them for a little over six months now, and they've been laying for a few weeks. Yesterday we had twelve eggs for the first time, but one of the hens ate one of the blue eggs. (We have two Ameraucanas.) I only know it was one of seven rhode island reds. The egg was in a nesting box that six chickens all used yesterday! It seemed like they were especially noisy yesterday, and I'm imagining they were fighting over the one nesting box. (The other six eggs we found laying around the floor and the run.) Should I try putting some of them in another box?

I don't know if this is a dietary thing maybe or is it a territorial thing? Should I identify her and put her in my cooking pot?

The feed we are using is supposed to be a complete formula for egg laying chickens. We also give them a brick of seeds and stuff every couple of weeks, and scraps from the kitchen.

A little enlightenment on what I should do in this situation would be helpful.
Thanks in advance!

 

[BrendaJ]

It could be dietary or behavioral. You could ad a dish of ground oyster shells for them to pick at as needed. There are lots of things to try - you could collect eggs several times a day, ad fake eggs or golf balls to the nest so when they peck they get nothing, buy nest boxes that tilt & hide the eggs once layed, find the hen responsible & remove her. The other hens can pick up on this & will start losing more eggs. When this happened in my flock I started simple & got fake eggs & collected 3 times a day. It worked great but what works for one flock doesn't always work for another. Best of luck - I know its frustrating

 

[cinader]

Thanks, yes, it's because we're checking often that we caught the hen eating the egg. So it's all of the above, as I imagined it might be! I think I will try the fake egg trick, though.