I added an Olive Egger and a Silver Laced Wyandotte to my flock in early February. At that time they looked pretty close to laying - red combs and wattles and I've been waiting for months now for that to actually happen. Today all the chickens were out in the yard. They usually hang in twos - the two older and the two younger. The OE looked like she was squatting. I thought, "FINALLY! She's getting ready to lay!" Then she kept squatting and fluffing her wings and next thing I knew an egg popped out! The Wyandotte immediately pecked at it and I shooed her away. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a soft egg and the peck just about cracked it fully open. I've been wondering about egg eating for awhile. I was getting 2 a day pretty much every day since about February and the past few weeks it's been more sporadic. Mostly one a day. I've only found one cracked egg in the nest and I thought it was more from fighting (they're still figuring out the pecking order since I moved the younger ones in last month). So is this just a first egg fluke? I'm surprised she laid it in the yard. They see the other eggs in the nest all the time. Is there other evidence of egg eating that I need to look for? Is the nest usually a mess when it happens or do they tend to clean up after themselves? Here's the egg she laid. and here are the two "newbies."
