Got my first egg...and they ate it...

[Bridget399]

I was just coming back from taking my dogs swimming at a local lake and decided to check on the chickens before going into the house. One of my Red Stars was looking quite strange, her bottom was tilted toward the ground, and her wings were drooping. Then, out came an egg, right in the run. I think it broke as soon as it hit the ground, because the others came over and quickly devoured it!

It looked rubbery. I only saw it for 5 seconds! It had a yolk, and was small, but impressive. I think the shell was too weak, what may be called a "fart egg"?
I just put oyster shell in their coop yesterday, and moved their nesting boxes down lower.

Will they not eat the eggs if they have a tougher shell?
Do you think that since they have had one egg that they now have an aquired taste for them?
And why do you think she didn't use the nesting box?
I'm sorry for all the questions but I'm so upset that I didn't get to keep that egg or at least get pictures of it!!!

 

[valentinebaby]

I've had one rubber egg since 4 of my girls started laying. Apparently, it's very common when they are starting to lay - takes about a month for all the kinks to work out. In my case, the pullet who layed the rubber egg had already layed one that morning, so it didn't have time to make the hard shell (takes about 22-24 hrs. to develop a hard-shell egg). Fortunately, I was right there when she layed it and grabbed it right before the others had a chance to get to it.

I wouldn't worry too much...since my rubber egg incident, there have been several eggs layed in the nest boxes without trouble. Be sure you have fake eggs in the nest box to entice them to lay there - worked great for me. I purchased fake ceramic eggs at a local feed store, but most BYC'ers use golf balls. Good luck!