Egg eaters?

[dlynne1123]

So I have 13 hens, and one rooster. Had 14 but lost one last week. The flock is mixed bantams and standards with 3 nesting boxes and two buckets (the bantams prefer smaller buckets.) yet they all wait in line for one box! My rooster is a rescue, new addition, he's quite friendly and the hens are actually bullying him! RIR I think. He's big! Hasn't even crowed yet and I have no idea how old he is. He was found in a dumpster this winter in town, with frostbite. The shelter called me to see if I had room.

My concern is I thought the eggs were breaking before I could collect them, too many in one box, etc. I find the rooster in the coop alone sometimes. I'm starting to think he's breaking and eating them!? Is this common? I wanted to give him a home and another factor to protect my hens, but if he's destroying my eggs I can't have that! Plenty of food, multiple feeding stations, and water.

Suggestions? Because of work I collect eggs both in morning and night, and night is when I find the box wet with no eggs. Now I feel silly for not realizing why it was wet. I've had to change it daily so it won't stink!

Between eggs bursting from the cold, and this, I'm barely getting any. Very discouraged....

Dani in Maine

 

[Kelsie2290]

Not sure if you have seen it, but the Learning Center has a nice article on breaking egg eaters. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/six-tips-on-breaking-your-egg-eater
Can you separate the rooster for awhile and see if the egg eating continues? Are you sure nothing else can get into the coop and get after the eggs? When you find the wet boxes, are you finding pieces of egg shell etc? Sometimes a hen will lay a soft shelled egg or have one burst and that will make a mess of the boxes, even though nothing is eating them.

 

[dlynne1123]

I'm not sure it's him. I have found some evidence of broken shells but not everytime. The eggs I am collecting seem to have good shells.

I think it started with the eggs freezing over last month. They'd freeze and burst. In most cases I collected them before anyone noticed, but a couple times I found frozen eggs eaten on the floor. I'm afraid I caused the bad habit. Ugh.

I'll check out the link and separate him for now.

Thank you!