Chicken pecking egg or rat?

[pinksapphire]

I came home today to find two eggs in the nest cracked open (see photo below) we have four hens and two year old hens are laying daily and the other two are point of lay.
Could this be rats? the younger hens or the laying hens?
They do not lay in there nesting box but in pampas grass, it is well covered and high off the ground.

 

[cackleberrycam]

It could be a raccoon. I do not think it could be egg cannibalism because your hens would have eaten the shells too. Approximately what time of day was it when they eggs were eaten?

 

[pinksapphire]

I am in Ireland so no racoons, rats are the only thing I can think of other than the chickens themselves. One usually lays in the morning and the other early afternoon, We were out so did not check the nest until late afternoon.

 

[cackleberrycam]

I wonder......

 

[chad-o]

Why aren't they laying in the nest?