chickens first eggs, what to do?

[jcog]

One of my chickens has laid two eggs and I need advise, I raised 20 hens and 4 roo's from day old chicks, one of my white leghorns has laid her first two eggs and today when she laid the second one on the ground one of the other chickens grabbed it before i could get to the egg and busted it. She did not eat any of it, my question is since they have never had a mother hen, how do i get them to lay in the nest? So far I only have one laying, the other ones are just eating! Everything!

 

[brooster]

Put fake eggs or golf balls in the nest boxes. They will think they are eggs and get the hint. Make sure the boxes are low enough and easy to get to.

 

[jcog]

I have had golf balls in the nest all along. Sunday morning she was acting different so i put her in the hen house where the nest are by herself and she got in the nest and made it all neat like she liked it but she would not get in there today when i thought she was about to lay. How do you keep the other ones from eating them?

 

[digitS']

Egg eating can be a difficult problem. Do a search on this forum and see what folks have tried.

IMO, the first thing you need to do is to get them to lay in the nests. To a chicken, an egg on the floor must just look like either a part of the landscape or something to eat.

You did the right thing by putting her in the nest. Keep doing that at any time of the day as long as she doesn't get too excited about being picked up. She needs to become comfortable in the nest and realize that it is a better place than the floor for her eggs.

You also did the right thing trying to get to the egg before the other chickens did. They may not break it but if they do - you still need to get it away from them, hopefully before any of it is eaten.

If all of these birds are the same age, probably you will have quite a few laying soon. They will learn from each other to use the nests.

Best of luck,

Steve

 

[jcog]

I decided to put her in a small isolation pen inside the big pen to keep her and the eggs away from the other chickens. I put the same kind of nest in there with her and lots of hay which is what is in the original nest boxes. All of them are the same age but they are different kinds. 9 leghorns (one that is laying) 5 RIR, 5 Black Australorps, 1 black star, 1 Brown leghorn Rooster and two Black Giant Roo's. One of the Black Giant Roo's is only interested in eating, everything he sees! He got part of the egg shell but he dropped it when i started chasing him. I have a lot of time invested in these chickens and i don't want them to eat the eggs! I have been told and read that you can't stop them once they start.