Egg eating, but midday layers

[Carrie M]

We just purchased a new home and took on the previous owner's chickens. We've never had chickens before so we're jumping in head first.
Our hens lay late morning to mid afternoon. This wouldn't be much of a problem if we didn't have an egg eater among them (possibly a habit picked up in the interim between the previous owners moving out and us moving in?). I can't figure out which hen is the culprit to separate her. I have been trying to check for eggs often, but I was too late one day and found an empty egg shell no where near the laying box.
I have young children. It's hard to coordinate their activities with checking for eggs so often. Our coop was custom built by the previous owners and I don't have the means or knowledge to change it to have slanted laying beds. Is there a way to get the hens to lay earlier in the day? Or another way to solve this problem?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Welcome!! Just for info---your "roost" are what your chickens roost/sleep on at night. I guess you were saying your nesting boxes were custom built? All chickens will eat eggs if the egg gets broke. Make sure your nest are soft---fresh hay placed in them. Are the egg shells hard like normal or brittle? Some hens just break them to eat.

The way I catch a egg eater is I bought some of the real looking eggs--ceramic I guess. I placed a couple in a nesting box with no nest material in the middle---so the glass eggs lay on the board bottom. Still collect the other eggs as often as you can but leave these---When a hen pecks on them they echo a louder sound laying on the bottom and I can quickly go to the nest and "catch" her---If you got kids---you probably got a baby monitor you can use near this nesting box so you will know when its happening without having to go out often. There in "roll-out" nesting boxes you can buy if you have to go that route.

 

[Carrie M]

Thanks for that advice (if only I hadn't gotten rid of our baby monitor before the move - looks like a trip to good will or craig's list is in order). Yes, I'm learning all the new and correct chicken vocab and I still get it all mixed up.
I don't know if the egg was brittle, but from the previous owner I do know that one hen lays softer eggs in spite of having oyster shells. So it probably was.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thanks for that advice (if only I hadn't gotten rid of our baby monitor before the move - looks like a trip to good will or craig's list is in order). Yes, I'm learning all the new and correct chicken vocab and I still get it all mixed up.
I don't know if the egg was brittle, but from the previous owner I do know that one hen lays softer eggs in spite of having oyster shells. So it probably was.

Well if you are collecting any eggs--when you break the shell to cook---see if it breaks easy. If it is brittle--You can force feed the hens a little extra "oyster shells" my mixing some extra in with their food. You can do that for a couple weeks to see if the eggs get firmer. As I mentioned above---put extra hay in the regular nest when you are not trying to catch the egg breaker.