First Egg! But it got eaten!!

[duckncover]

I have one chicken that lives inside. She has just 6 months old and today I found a half eaten egg shell in her cage. I'm so excited that she finally laid an egg but now I'm worried she will always eat her eggs and I'll never get to cook with them. I give her layer pellets, fresh fruits and vegetables, cracked corn, and recently I started giving her crushed egg shells for calcium once I suspected she was close to laying. Is there anyway I can stop her from eating them? Or if not, how can I tell that she's laying an egg so I can take it off her as soon as it's laid. She lives in my living room so if chickens make a specific sound while laying maybe I can take if off her before she eats it. I hope someone can help me.

 

[Judy]

She probably broke it by accident. The shell may have been thin, too. A chicken will always and eagerly eat a broken egg, but developing the habit of reaking the eggs to eat them actually does not happen that often.
there is a thing called "the egg song" that man hens make around the time they lay. I've seen mine do it before and after laying. It's a series of short, staccato sounds followed by one longer, louder one. Sort of, bok bok bok bok bok bok B-GAWK!

 

[duckncover]

I don't have much space to work with otherwise that sounds like a good idea. But this morning I found another egg. This time it wasn't harmed. I put 4 decoy eggs I got from Wal-mart in with her so she hopefully learns that the decoy ones don't crack and will take eggs off her list of peck-worthy items. This egg, unlike the other one, was IN her nextbox way in the back. It's the coolest little tan egg too. I don't think she's cured but hopefully the idea with the fake eggs I got from a friend will work. I don't have any other chickens. Frizzle is a pet so it doesn't matter if she lays eggs but it sure would be cool to have a carton full of her eggs to cook with!

 

[Judy]

I have read here of experienced chicken keepers who routinely throw their dirtiest eggs on the coop floor to break them. so the chickens can eat them, and I've occasionally done this myself. I've personally had a number of soft shelled or thin shelled eggs that got broken one way or another, and the contents have gotten eaten; I've even stumbled on them eating the contents. This flock has birds up to 5 years old, and I've had other flocks over the years. I've never had a hen who purposely broke eggs to eat them. Lots of people feed their shells back to the chickens for the calcium. sometimes they cook or clean the shells, sometimes not. I don't know what makes them turn that corner to being a true egg eater, breaking them open to eat them, but I don't believe that it is simply eating broken eggs. Maybe some hens become egg eaters more readily than others.