Chicken dropping egg while on roost at night

[bluenow]

Hi,
I have a chicken, not sure which one yet, that is dropping her egg from the roost at night. They are breaking when they drop, not that that matters. Wondering if this is a sign of something? I have one chicken that is acting a little off (not walking around as much as others, laying down more, but comb is nice and red. I will get a closer look this weekend), and I'm assuming that she's the one dropping the eggs.
Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

How old are your chickens? I have had that occur at times. Are the shells normally hard or are you seeing any soft or shell-less eggs? Do you have them on layer feed and have crushed oyster shell available in a separate container than their feed?

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

This may not be helpful, but I experienced something similiar.

I'd get an occasional egg on the roost. Usually broken. Sometimes without a shell at all. I expected that I had a hen that was having repoductive issues (shellless eggs), and/or some of my hens were bullying others away from the nest box (laying on the roost vs the nest boxes), but I finally caught a few on camera and figured out:

-multiple birds were doing it every one in a great while as opposed to 1 bird being the sole roost layer.
-at least some of the shellless eggs were normal, seemingly healthy eggs, laid while on the roost, and later on another hen came in and pecked it and ate the shell.
-the eggs were always laid overnight, and when they'd lay, it almost appeared they were laying in their sleep (think like a kid wetting the bed). They'd be motionless and quiet on their roost, then suddenly their eyes would pop open, they'd sit up a bit, drop an egg, close their eyes, and go right back to sleep. They didn't cluck or get crazy or do any of their normal pre & post egg laying routines.

I reached the conclusion that it's nothing to be concerned about. I consider myself a permenant novice chicken tender though, so I'm curious to know if more experienced chickens folks reply with different thoughts.

 

[bluenow]

Thanks for the responses. The chickens are around 2. I have seen shell-less eggs before, but only once or twice. and yes, i have them on layer feed (scratch and peck) and have crushed oyster shell available in a separate container.

The egg dropping is something that I have only noticed in the past month, although I guess it could have been happening before and they were eating everything. I wouldn't be too concerned if the one chicken wasnt acting "off".

Here's another thought. I recently changed the inside of their coop because I've been struggling to rid them of poultry lice. I took out the bedding and made it more like what you would see in a bird cage...I put down steel hardware cloth (steel wire mesh with 3/4 inch openings) on a frame that is about 6 inches above the base, and then i put newspaper underneath. their poop falls through, and then I just pull out the newspaper. Easier to clean, and keeps the coop cleaner. However, they arent crazy about jumping down from the roost onto it. Maybe she usually lays early in the morning, and because she's hesistant to jump down it's just being done on the roost. This could be what is going on, but they seem to have gotten over their hesitancy after the first few days. Who knows.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would check the scratch and peck feed. I tried a good brand once, and it gives the chickens an opportunity to pick out the parts they like best first. My hens didn’t even care to eat it. Most people find that a feed that has all of the same ingredients in each crumble or pellet, is better so they cannot pick out the best seeds first. I don’t know if that has anything to do with your egg issue, but it might. It could also be possible that the hen‘s time to lay that day fell in the dark hours. I’ve never cared for wire mesh flooring. It seems hard on their feet. I had a tiny starter coop with it, and the droppings would not go through the openings.

 

[bluenow]

That's a good point about the food. I've definitely thought about that because I see they dig through it and pick certain things out.
I agree that it's a bit hard on their feet. I ended up putting some wood down on top of it so they had a path to the roost. And yeah, it's not the best with getting it to drop through. This was a first attempt, I may end up making something else, maybe with wood lattice.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Are the birds beginning to molt? Onset of molt could be is causing wonky eggs to happen.

As far as the feed, are you fermenting or serving the feed wet? It would help prevent birds from picking out only select grains, and also force them to eat the fines which contain protein and vitamins and minerals.