Finally, An Egg But It's Broken

[Booswalia]

After three months of no eggs I finally found an egg today. It was in the nest where they usually lay but it was broken.

Here's the story....
Three hens. One of them never lays. End of that story.
The other two were very good layers until this fall. They started moulting but it seems to be taking forever. The tail feathers are now starting to come in and I figure they're about ready to start laying again.
I had changed their feed to layer pellets about a month ago but they didn't like them much so I switched back to organic mash. They don't seem to want that either any more. They do get a lot of scraps but I don't like to spoil them so much that they won't eat their mash.

Anyway... I found an egg today for the first time in a long time but it was broken with no sign of the shell anywhere. I don't know if one of the hens ate it or if it might have been a dud egg. Or if something else ate it, however, they're are in an enclosed pen and it would have to be a very small "something else".

Any ideas? I would love to not have to keep buying eggs with three hens in the yard.

 

[magicpigeon]

It could have been a shell-less egg, maybe from a hen new to motherhood?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

It's doubtful that one of your hens "ate it." If they were going to eat it, they would have eaten all of it. I agree that it might have been a shell-less egg. If it were me I would probably cut back on the treats to make sure they are getting enough nutrition from their layer mash. Are they offered oyster shell as well?

 

[magicpigeon]

I think your hens would have eaten the egg inside first...But that would surely explain the long gap in egg production though

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Quote:
I believe the long gap in egg production was due to moulting...

 

[magicpigeon]

Yay Chicks! :

Quote:
I believe the long gap in egg production was due to moulting...

Oh...I forgot that

 

[Booswalia]

I hope it was a shell-les egg. There was only a small amount of yoke left which made me think they ate it. But it was all mixed in with the straw in the nest so it was hard to tell. At first I thought it was poo. Oooh,
They do have a dish of oyster shells in the coop so they can help themselves to that.

 

[mychookschick]

I agree with those who say shell less egg! When my Comets were first starting to lay, I got SOOO many of these! I had to clean the favorite nest boxes often!! LOL She wiil get over it... And move on with normal production.

I should tell you though that the fact that they aren't eating layer food could contribute to the fact that their eggs will be either soft or, like this one, shell less. They will eat the layer food when they are hungry.... You just need to cut back or possibly even take out al together their treeats until they do. Once, I had to mix the new food and old food togother and increasingly add more of the new... Just an idea... Hope you can figure it out!