Had to be away from the house all day yesterday, so I only collected eggs at about 4:00. All five girls had laid, but one egg was broken, and a piece of the shell was outside the coop. When I went to the nest they all use (there are 7 other boxes ) there was egg all over the straw and other eggs. So... I've never had an egg eater before... do you suppose, since I found a lot of egg still in the nest, that I don't have an eater, just a clumsy girl? I've never had a broken egg before, either, but the half shell I found wasn't thin, and they always lay in the same box, and have never broken one before. Do egg eaters usually leave so much behind?
I have never had a problem with my girls eating eggs (so far), usually if there is egg in the nest box which has only happened a couple of times it's because someone laid a shelless or soft shelled egg and it was stepped on and broke, then of course someone has deciced to lay on top of the nest lately and I end up with a cracked egg (cause it's layed on the wood..no shavings) ever now and then they get to shovin' around eggs and one gets pecked and cracked but no eating .....your girl probably just picked up the broken shell and packed it off and left it...I would'nt worry too much if this is the first incident of this ever happening, you will know for sure if it keeps happening on a regular basis.
I had a girl jump on the roost one evening and just after she got to her roost, an egg plopped out. 2 or 3 hens quickly jumped down like this had happened before and greedily ate up the egg, shell and anything the egg had landed on. go figure.
