First Egg Eaten

[willemolivier]

Good day,

I was so happy to find my hen's first egg in the nest box on the 17th. When I went to check on her this morning, I found no egg whatsoever. The hen has been with a Rooster for about three weeks. I then seperated them and she has been on her own for 2 weeks and the laying started. I guess she is about 22-24 weeks of age.

Is it normal for the hen to eat her 1st egg?

I have created a nice environment for her with good all round feeding. Ie chick mix, extra sunflower seeds, a lettuce every 2nd / 3rd day. Fresh water daily, including egg laying pellets. Green grass and access to bugs etc.

I have also placed 2 golf balls in the nest box.

Any help and or advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Megan Amber]

I hear that it happens a lot but it's never something you want your hens to get in the habit of doing. I just went through a terrible egg eating spell in my chickens and was thinking I was going to need to start an all new flock when a friend of mine told me about placing peeled white onions in the nesting boxes. They hens will peck those and be disgusted by the taste and quit egg eating all together. I was skeptical but then did it and it worked like a charm! Good Luck to You!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The rooster thing means absolutely nothing. It doesn’t matter if she is with a rooster or not unless you are concerned about fertile eggs. Her behaviors won’t change because of a rooster.

Why do you think it was the hen that ate it? I never leave eggs in the coop overnight unless they are under a broody. To me, that’s just an invitation for some critter to eat them. I’ve even had a snake eat the eggs out from under a broody during daytime, let alone what might get in the coop at night.

You are dealing with living animals. It’s always possible a hen would eat her egg, especially if it is a shell-less or very thin shelled egg that gets accidentally broken, but it is highly unlikely if the egg is not broken.

I don’t know all the critters you have in South Africa or how secure your coop is, especially at night, but I’d look real hard for something eating the egg other than the pullet.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Did you see evidence that she'd eaten the egg? There's usually a mess of some sort left behind - yolk stain, shell bits, etc.

As she's just begun to lay, I'd think maybe she just didn't lay an egg this morning as they don't lay every day. New layers will sometimes lay no-shelled eggs or soft-shelled eggs that break and my hens have eaten the mess left by those eggs. I think they do that by instinct as a mess in the nest will attract predators. I've never had any solid shelled eggs cracked and eaten by my hens.

As she's a new layer, she probably just needs some time for her egg-laying equipment to get in-sync. Good luck!