End of egg broken

[Almandine]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post obviously but I've been googling and used the search engine on here and have come up empty.

The last few days when my chicken Lily lays an egg the top is broken. It's always the pointed top and it's almost like it's pushed in from the ouside and then cracked around it. I can post a picture if that helps to better understand how I'm trying to describe the breaking. I only have two chickens and my other one named Almond isn't laying yet, that's why I know it's from the same chicken every day. My husband thinks she's just stepping on it or maybe it's breaking when it drops but I want to make sure this isn't a sign of her being sick or having something wrong. She's been laying for about a month now and the eggs were fine until the last few days. Her feed and treats haven't changed at all. She does have a habit of moving all the straw around in the nest box to where when she lays the egg it's on the bare wood.

I just want to make sure that there isn't anything wrong that could be causing this. I don't want to just assume that she's stepping on the end somehow or it's breaking when she lays the egg and have her get sick or die. Almond and Lily are also our friends/pets and we do care if something happens to them.

thanks in advance for any information!

 

[chicmom]

Where is she laying it? It sounds like it's coming out and hitting the ground (or nest box) on the end which is cracking it. Can you put a little more straw in the nest box, or a little bit more pine shavings?

 

[maybejoey]

A picture would help a lot. Dont know without a picture though.

 

[Almandine]

We've put as much straw as we can in and she throws it out every day. We've got a tall lip on the front of the nesting box to try and keep the straw in also and she just throws it right over that. I'll take a picture if she lays an egg today since I dropped the one yesterday when I was coming into the house.

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

My girls give the egg a little test poke before they will leave the nest.

I don't know if it's true but my FIL stopped me putting straw in the next boxes, he said lice love the hollow tubes.
I bought a baled package of sawdust shavings and it works beautifully. When it's fresh they fling a little out getting comfortable. I add dichotomous (sorry about the spelling) around the edges when I add more shavings.

How long have your girls been laying? My older girls (2-3 years) often lay pretty fragile shelled eggs.