Blood in the nest box?

[MandiRock]

I was collecting my eggs today and saw two of the nest boxes had a few drops of dried blood in them. Neither box had any eggs. The third box had a few eggs, one of which had a blood smear. There was also a crushed up egg shell.

I checked all 6 girls but none of them have any blood on them.

Is this a cause for concern?



(I don't think I have an egg eater, I think one of my girls is pecking eggs to see if they will break. Yesterday one had a hole in it but the yolk and wall still inside)

 

[scratch'n'peck]

If they are new layers their egg laying cycle may still be sort of irregular. My guess is that one of the pullets laid a softer shell egg that cracked inside her and scraped her oviduct some. Soft shells do increase the risk of an egg getting stuck in the oviduct (called egg bound), but one soft shelled egg does not warrant alarm. To be on the safe side you could offer them some oyster shell in a separate bowl (referred to as "free choice oyster shell" because they will eat what they want to satisfy their need for calcium.) Just keep monitoring them like you are.