Breaking Eggs

[dougp23]

HI everyone! My very first post!

I only have 2 chickens but they are great! The day before yesterday, when we were outside doing some work around their pen and coop, one of the chickens just popped an egg out in the pen, it immediately broke (weak shell??) and the other one ran over and ate it....I figured maybe she was stressed with us being near the coop and pen, although it usually doesn't seem to bother them much.

Today I go to the door where I get the eggs, only 1. There is a pile of egg-goo to one side, but no sign of a shell....so that must have been egg #2. (Did they eat the shell?)

Any idea what's going on? For weeks, it was like clockwork, 2 eggs every day. I'm just a little curious and maybe a tiny bit worried. Plus, my egg production is down...

Thanks everyone!

 

[Judy]

Or two soft shell eggs in two days. They do sometimes eat the shell. Maybe the egg goo indicates it did not get eaten this time, just stepped on. Let's hope. Egg eaters are difficult or impossible to stop.

I'd probably hang an old T shirt scrap over most of the nest box opening to darken it in there, which is one of the approaches to discourage egg eating.

And...