Eggs dropping from the roost and being eaten

[Peekies]

I have had my 4 ISA chickens for 3-4 months now. I bought them as pullets. Everything has been going fine until about a week ago. Every morning I find a crushed egg on the ground below the roost, which appears to have been eaten. Yesterday i found an eaten egg plus a cracked egg and a perfect egg below the roost. It appears to me that 2 eggs were dropped from the roost and the third decided to lay beside the first two. This morning one empty shell again. I have searched this forum and this does seem to be a common problem. I will put some straw or shavings below the roost, hoping that if the egg falls and does not crack they might leave it alone. Any other suggestions or tips that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mickey328]

How old are your girls? Are they just starting to lay? What sort of nesting boxes do they have? Our girls were well started when we got them, and we had to house them in a rabbit hutch till we got the coop built. I had put in a Rubbermaid dishpan for a nesting box. Two of them used it but the rest preferred the floor of the cage. There wasn't a roost in it.

When we built the coop, we put in 2 nesting boxes that are covered, and now all the eggs are in the boxes. They really seem to like the dark, private area. We put a sloped roof on them so they don't roost on them.

You might also try putting some golf balls or fake eggs in the nesting boxes to encourage them. You'll definitely want to curtail the eating activity asap so they don't get the idea that eggs are good to eat! If they continue, you might want to remove the roost for a little while, until they get the hang of using the boxes.

HTH
Mickey

 

[Peekies]

Thanks for the reply. The girls have been here since the end of May. They were pullets (15-20 weeks old ) They have been laying since we got them. They do have nesting boxes which they used all the time. Some still do. The problems seems to be with one chicken, who has some control problems

. I think the egg breaks and they go hmm, lets try that. I will try the shavings or straw thing first and maybe check on them at night to see when the egg is being laid. I will report my findings

 

[mickey328]

Good luck and oops...forgot to say "Welcome"!

It can be really tough sometimes to figure out who's laying what, that's for sure. Loading up on "padding" under the roost is a good idea; it should afford at least some protection. You might try removing the roost for a few days if you can...that may sort of "force" her to use the floor or a box. If she gets into the habit, she may well not lay on the roost again after you put it back

 

[Peekies]

So........found some 1" foam and put a small piece below where I usually found the broken egg on Saturday night. Sunday morning an egg was broken and empty on the floor right beside the foam. Missed

Covered the whole area yesterday and this morning went out at 6:15 AM and an egg was on the foam ..........unbroken

3 birds were still on the roost and one in the nesting box. So I got the egg before most of them came down from the roost, so not sure if they would have attacked the egg or not.
Of course the foam will begin to stink so I will have to come up with something else. Happened upon a thread about poop boards and Sweet PDZ on this site and thought this might be a good idea.
Any thoughts ?

 

[mickey328]

PDZ is awesome! We mix it in with the bedding...it dries out the poo and really keeps things fresh. Our girls have been in their new coop for about 10 days now and we haven't cleaned it...and when you stick your head in there, all you smell is the fresh wood.

What sort of foam did you use? It isn't anything they can peck at and eat, is it? Could you cover it with something that wouldn't absorb the poo? Then when it gets gucked up you might be able to just take it our and hose it off.

In our nesting boxes, we put a piece (cut to fit) of an old welcome mat...the kind that has the plastic bristles to wipe yer feet on. Then we put the bedding in on top of that. We've a couple hens who seem to prefer to scratch all the bedding out, so when they lay, the egg lands on the mat which gives it some support and protection. When necessary, we take the mat out, hose it off, let it air dry for a bit and put it back in...works great for us.