Egg shell in run - can it mean anything else ?????

[Cheep]

Got home from work ~1230 this afternoon, usually there are 2-3 eggs: generally 2 white eggs & a brown or green.

Today, only 1 (white) egg, and I found a partial eggshell in their free-range area (It was a white eggshell).

Could there be any other explanation than an egg-eating pullet? 2 days ago, their daily schedule was disrupted by me, doing the following: power tools which eventually produced 3 new nests, and their old nest disappeared. I was afraid if I left it in there, no one would use the 3 new nests.

Egg production went down to 2/day, where I was getting 3-4 without fail.

Any thoughts for me? (comforting or not

) thank you.

 

[dawnchick]

Sure. Maybe the egg got stepped on. I've found partially eaten eggs occasionally, but not regularly, so I figure none of them is a regular egg eater, in the sense of breaking the egg on purpose in order to eat the egg. I assume they eat one that gets broken by accident. I've had them step on and kill a newly hatched chick, as well, which I happened to see, and it looked accidental to me. They're not always very fussy about where they put their feet. Of course the culprit could be a snake, rat, or other critter. The snakes are really out crawling around here lately.

 

[Cheep]

Yeah, the place where I found the eggshell was not in a place anyone has ever laid an egg, so it could definitely be a varmint. All my pullets look so sweet & innocent I just can't believe they are egg-eaters. It has been very hot here lately, on top of the disruption of the power tools/new nests. THANKS for your reply; I fell better.