Egg frustration

[ibreathe4u]

My first problem is that the 3 laying hens (14 months) have slowed down to almost no eggs. I've been searching the back yard looking for a hidden nest because I'm not getting the 2-3 eggs per day that's normal.

My second problem is that I've found a couple eggs broken and eaten either in the run or just outside of it. I was blaming my Marans thinking she was young and just not getting the nest thing right. I found one of these eaten eggs today and assumed it was her, but about an hour ago I saw her in the nest box, so it's obviously from one of the older girls.

The questions would be:

Are they having issues that would cause them to stop laying in the nest box? What could cause this?

Is something getting the eggs out of the nest box? I've never seen a mouse or rat or any droppings that would make me think they are around.

Could it be a cat or squirrel? I would assume if it is an animal, it would be one that doesn't harm or necessarily upset the chickens.

Could they be knocking them out of the nest box, and if that's the case, how could the one today get outside of the run?

My third problem is today my Marans that was getting blamed for problem #2 was in the nest box. I watched and waited for her to come out and went to get the egg. At first I thought it was soft shelled, but realized there was a chunk of shell missing plus it had hairline fractures all around the missing chunk. It wasn't eaten, the inside was intact until I smashed it and fed it to them.

I don't know what to do. I haven't changed their food or any other routine. They're acting normal, eating and drinking. Is it the heat? Another animal? Bad behavior? Something else? I'm at a loss.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If you're finding eaten eggs I'd suspect 1 or more of the hens first.

 

[ibreathe4u]

Yeah, I haven't had any reason to suspect other animals, I figured it was them

 

[PSJ]

I'm sure it's the hens eating the eggs. 1st of all, if they are hatchery birds, you can expect laying to drop some after the first year. The heat may also have something to do with the decline. But, back to the egg eating... The eggs could be getting knocked out of the nest and then eaten. As for finding it in the run, they will roll or carry their eggs to wherever they want. Do you have something blocking the opening of the nests so it isn't as easy for the eggs to fall out? Once they get started, egg eating is hard to break. You might want to do a search here on BYC for "egg eating" and see what you can do. There are many different methods. It's all about finding what works for you and your girls. Good luck

 

[hershbek]

I am having the same problem. I know who my culprit is though. I actually gated the back section of my chicken coop off and I put her in time out until everyone else is done laying, which is normally only 1-2 hrs and by 10:00 am. I put food and water in there for her too. Amazing because I went from 3 eggs one day to 7 the next! I also put golf balls in the nesting boxes. It's a pain to do that every morning but Im not worrying about the eggs now. Plus, I don't want her teaching the others to do it either. Hoping maybe after awhile of doing this, she will forget about eating the eggs. I am new at this, but we will see.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO you have to teach them that eggs aren't good to eat. Putting fake eggs and plastic Easter eggs filled with distasteful things like sand saturated with wicked hot sauce.
After a while, if you're lucky, she'll get tired of trying to break the ceramic eggs and then when she gets the plastic one open, it wasn't worth the effort.

 

[ibreathe4u]

I'll have to try the fake eggs. Today has been good, two beautiful intact eggs. I checked my nest box, there's no way they can fall out although I do think they could drag them out either intentionally or unintentionally. Checked around the yard again today, no hidden nests (unless they're really well hidden).

It looks like I'm out of work for awhile (fractured my shoulder), so I'll be able to keep an eye on my monsters.