Finding raw egg in nesting box but never any broken shell????

[navychick]

Hi, Lately I have been finding raw egg in nesting box but never any broken shell. We offer a healthy diet which includes fresh veggies, yogurt, and oyster shell. This spring we added 3 Peking ducks to our flock and I have observed on two occasions this summer an occasion where they will step on one of there eggs and break it and one of our BO will have at it. Has this created an egg eater? If so wouldn't there be even a tiny remnant of shell? It's soo hard to believe not even a tiny bit of shell would be found in the straw. Our coop is secure and I know it is not a predator. Could we have a hen who is laying shell-less eggs? Please don't suggest a web cam, I don't have one. Thanks-Tamara

 

[countrygoddess]

They could be eating every bit of the shell. How many times has it happened? Sometimes if one of my girls lays a shelless egg, it gets stepped on and popped--they'll eat it and leave some yolk, etc., but obviously I don't find shell. Do you think you've had a shelless egg or two? Even with the oyster shell, it sometimes happens...

 

[popsicle]

I would suspect a shell-less layer. If they were eating the shell they would most likely eat the rest.

How old are the chickens? Any young layers?

 

[Minniechickmama]

I agree with popsicle. If you had an egg eater, they would eat EVERYTHING and quickly and you wouldn't even see if it you weren't there to witness it. In fact, I am surprised that if you have any raw egg around where the chickens are, it is only because none of them noticed it. Chickens LOVE eating raw egg. I give raw eggs to mine if I end up accidentally cracking or dropping an egg while I am out around the chicken house and it is gone in no time at all.
So, why? you have a shell-less layer. It could be a pullet coming into lay and her system hasn't quite got it right, or it could be something nutritionally messed up in an older layer. I would keep an eye on things and see who it is and start feeling around on the hens to see if you are noticing anything unusual with any of them. I occasionally get a soft-shelled egg, but I have yet to find where I have a shell-less layer.
By the way, I LOVE your coop!