Are my chickens eating their eggs? Not laying in boxes. Help please?

[MrsChicky55]

I'm new to raising chickens and we started with baby chicks this spring. A month ago we go our first egg and were so excited. We had a little bit of variety in the ages of our chicks. Our buff orpington is the oldest & pretty sure she was our first layer but she's been so intermittent. Then our cochin laid an egg about a week and a half ago, haven't seen another one but she seems healthy and herself. Our American Bresse I'm not sure if she's started laying yet and I'm giving her credit to the buff or if she's still waiting to lay. Those are our three oldest by 2-4 weeks.

I have 7 more pullets that are all the same age. We have one olive egger and she's laid an egg every day for the last 3 days. We hadn't even gotten but maybe 8-9 eggs in the last month with the other 3 so that's a lot of eggs for us all of a sudden. And several of our first eggs were cracked but I'm pretty sure that's just laying them on the go. But one of the olive eggs I found only through scooping out the coop, just the egg shells smashed in the sand. I thought maybe she laid it in the middle of the coop and it just got squished. Then today I found another olive egg that I think was laid while roosting and had cracked slightly that way... but there was definitely a spot where the egg shell curved in as if it had been pecked once.

So couple questions here...
1. Is it normal to have so few eggs when first laying?
2. If not what are some reasons they might not be laying regularly?
3. Is it possible they've already begun eating their eggs? If so what would cause such young chickens to start eating their eggs?
4. How do I train my chickens to lay in their boxes so their eggs don't crack (ounce of prevention & all).
5. If they are only free ranging from 5-7pm is it likely or possible that they are laying somewhere in the yard in the evening?

A little background to help.

Routine- My chickens stay in their coop at night. I move them immediately from the coop to a mobile chicken run during the day which I move every other day. I let them out to free range in the yard an hour or two before bedtime. Then lock them up at night. Repeat.

Feed- I have 17 chickens I feed them ~5 cups of fermented scratch and peck layer feed, what was originally 4 cups of barley sprouted to fodder (which expands to a seed tray full). The last few weeks since they've been laying we started to try to spoil them by adding fruit daily (i.e. watermelon, melon, pumpkin, apples, figs, plums, comfrey, etc.). Plus intermitantly some dry feed, meal worms, or scratch while free ranging and they are being beggars rather than foraging (their mostly egg laying breeds after all). They have constant access to oyster shells and grit during the day in their chicken run.

I have to admit I hadn't been keeping food or water in their chicken coop and sometimes I don't get out to move them/feed them until 10am or so. I'm afraid maybe they've been hungry or bored so I moved my grain and water feeders to the coop today and added a smaller water to the run (since I started doing fermented feed & fodder they don't drink as much.) Other than that I'm not sure what else to do. Any info, recommendations, or thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated.

 

[17 chickens]

I have over a 100 layers and the are cage free birds, I use plastic easter eggs in the nesting boxes to train them where to go to lay eggs and this teaches them not to eat the eggs too. It doesn't matter what color the plastic eggs are just keep them in there at all times. This should help with egg eating. Try putting the food in the coop at night for them to eat until you let them out at around 10 am, This will give them food to eat if they are hungry. I hope this helps you!

 

[MrsChicky55]

I have over a 100 layers and the are cage free birds, I use plastic easter eggs in the nesting boxes to train them where to go to lay eggs and this teaches them not to eat the eggs too. It doesn't matter what color the plastic eggs are just keep them in there at all times. This should help with egg eating. Try putting the food in the coop at night for them to eat until you let them out at around 10 am, This will give them food to eat if they are hungry. I hope this helps you!

Love that idea! And luckily I've got some on hand! Thanks a million!

 

[chickens really]

Hello....My Birds have feed 24/7.....Fresh water at all times...What kind of nest boxes do you have and what type of nesting material are you using?...What works is to confine them to the Coop and Run to train them to use the nests...Cut back on all the treats and only give the feed...Provide oyster shell in a separate bowl....Great eggs come from lots of water and balanced nutrition ....

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you have nest boxes in the chicken tractor? If not, this is a great part of your issue. Your birds see their coop as home, b/c that is where they sleep. They may not feel secure in the tractor, and thus are delaying laying till they go to coop at night. Also, new layers are not regulated yet, and it's not at all uncommon for an egg to plop out any time of day or night, and in any location. If they don't have a secure nest to go to, they are going to find it stressful to settle into a routine. Can you show pics of your coop and tractor set up? Fake eggs in a nest box really do help. I give my girls lots of hay as it satisfies their urge to fluff the nest.

Secondly, your spoiling them with treats as they approach POL is counter productive. These treats are watering down their essential protein and other nutrients, so their bodies are depleted. Feed intake is stated to be: .20 - .25# of dry feed/bird/day. Even though you are fermenting your feed, I would start with that. Calculate .25#/bird, and ferment that much... and offer that much per day. If there is more feed left over at the end of the day, that's great. Offer only their FF and the goodies they glean while in their tractor. You might find a huge increase in laying.

Finally, The cracked eggs, especially if you are seeing a star shaped indent... That is an exploratory peck. She's trying to figure out what just fell out of her butt! Be sure your birds have plenty of good nutrition. I provide fermented layer, and even set out oyster shell occasionally, more so when I have new pullets approaching POL. I also recycle all of my egg shells. Keep those shells hard, and the pullets won't be rewarded with tasty egg goo when they do that exploratory pecking.

 

[MrsChicky55]

Do you have nest boxes in the chicken tractor? If not, this is a great part of your issue. Your birds see their coop as home, b/c that is where they sleep. They may not feel secure in the tractor, and thus are delaying laying till they go to coop at night. Also, new layers are not regulated yet, and it's not at all uncommon for an egg to plop out any time of day or night, and in any location. If they don't have a secure nest to go to, they are going to find it stressful to settle into a routine. Can you show pics of your coop and tractor set up? Fake eggs in a nest box really do help. I give my girls lots of hay as it satisfies their urge to fluff the nest.

Secondly, your spoiling them with treats as they approach POL is counter productive. These treats are watering down their essential protein and other nutrients, so their bodies are depleted. Feed intake is stated to be: .20 - .25# of dry feed/bird/day. Even though you are fermenting your feed, I would start with that. Calculate .25#/bird, and ferment that much... and offer that much per day. If there is more feed left over at the end of the day, that's great. Offer only their FF and the goodies they glean while in their tractor. You might find a huge increase in laying.

Finally, The cracked eggs, especially if you are seeing a star shaped indent... That is an exploratory peck. She's trying to figure out what just fell out of her butt! Be sure your birds have plenty of good nutrition. I provide fermented layer, and even set out oyster shell occasionally, more so when I have new pullets approaching POL. I also recycle all of my egg shells. Keep those shells hard, and the pullets won't be rewarded with tasty egg goo when they do that exploratory pecking.

They have 9 nesting boxes in the coop & 3 in the run. They are all identical ~an inch or so. Made of cedar and filled with pine shavings. I’ll be switching over to straw next week though.

I got my 4th olive egg in 4 days! Yay! She laid it in the nest! Yay! Somebody broke it but did not eat it. I’m not home this weekend so they’ll be confined to their coop. I added plastic eggs as suggested and I have a few wind coming to check for eggs. I wish I could make them eat more oyster shells the last two eggs have been thinner/ brittle shelled. I figure her bodies just finding a balance. Would it be bad to sneak some of the oyster shell on even dried egg shell in their food or will they just learn to fortify themselves?

It seems they are just exploratory pecking them, by t then that means my other layers are really irregular. It’s been almost 2 weeks since my Cochin laid an egg!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They have 9 nesting boxes in the coop & 3 in the run. They are all identical ~an inch or so. Made of cedar and filled with pine shavings. I’ll be switching over to straw next week though.

I got my 4th olive egg in 4 days! Yay! She laid it in the nest! Yay! Somebody broke it but did not eat it. I’m not home this weekend so they’ll be confined to their coop. I added plastic eggs as suggested and I have a few wind coming to check for eggs. I wish I could make them eat more oyster shells the last two eggs have been thinner/ brittle shelled. I figure her bodies just finding a balance. Would it be bad to sneak some of the oyster shell on even dried egg shell in their food or will they just learn to fortify themselves?

It seems they are just exploratory pecking them, by t then that means my other layers are really irregular. It’s been almost 2 weeks since my Cochin laid an egg!

Some breeds don't lay regularly, especially this time of year. Cracks could be from one egg hitting another or from the eggs hitting the bottom of the nestboxes. They stand up to lay the egg, so make sure your nests are well bedded.

Your breeds aren't high production. Cochins are sporadic, olive eggers can be too. My Orpingtons will lay 3-5 eggs a week but than they take breaks of a few weeks.

I prefer a higher protein feed than layer to optimize laying. I provide the separate bowl of oyster shells. Never try to force them to eat them. In general if you are feeding a layer they will consume very little oyster shells. Many times hens will get too much calcium from eating layer and will have calcium deposits on the eggs because of it.

It's normal for pullets to lay wonky eggs. Brittle shells is just probably a glitch. It can take some a few months to straighten out.

Your best production will happen in early spring under increasing daylight. Throughout fall and winter expect less, and sporadic.

 

[Molpet]

I have heard that if a hen goes 2 hrs w/- water it can slow down her laying

 

[lazy gardener]

They'll get there. It just takes them time to get the machinery fine tuned. Don't worry about the thin shells. Just keep making the layer their only feed for now, and offer the OS on the side.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Yes... it took mine some time to establish a pattern. As far as the broken eggs I think if they were eating them the inside of the egg would be gone and a good s chances the shell. So they are probably just breaking as they lay against others or thinner shells. From my experience you may need to grab the broken eggs quickly before they find out the goodies inside cause once they realize they want more. I got mine to begin using the nesting boxes by keeping them in the run till about 12 or so and they had layed and they caught on quick. Sure it's different for every chicken though