Help! My 17 week old BO laid her 1st egg and they all were EATING it!!

[Mourgana]

HELP!!

I've had my 6 17 week old Buff Orpingtons in my garden the past couple weeks because we have been treating their coop for bedbugs.

Today I was outside by my garden and noticed a SHELLESS egg on the ground in the dirt and all the hens were standing around eating it. (It was still warm!)

This is the 1st time I've seen them do this, I don't know if they've been eating eggs shells or not. I didn't even know they could lay so early, they just turned 17 weeks old last Friday.
Everything I've read said they don't start laying til 20-24 weeks of age.

I haven't even been giving them layer feed or oyster shell yet because I thought we had another month or more before they would lay.

I got them away from the egg as quick as could, and rubbed it into the dirt with my boot. I also moved them back to their coop today after the egg eating incident in the hopes that their normal environment would help them lay in the coop instead of the dirt where I could collect them before they get eaten.

I'm also going to prepare some boiled eggs and give them the shell crushed up as well as the inside chopped up in the hope's that they will develop a shell and keep them from egg eating in the future.

I also ordered some wooden eggs off amazon that should arrive on Tuesday to put in their nesting area so that if they decide to peck at eggs they won't be successful in getting a reward.

Am I too late?? Will be be stuck with egg eating monsters until they die?! PLEASE HELP!!

Any advice/tips/hints other then what I've done would be greatly appreciated!! I don't want the last 4 or 5 months of chicken rearing to be in vain, and I don't want to kill my flock and start over!!

 

[ChickNanny13]

What are you feeding them now?
Layer feed is not necessary, just add a separate dish of Oyster Shells. The wooden eggs will also aid them in learning where to lay their eggs. You can also use a golf ball or plastic Easter eggs filled with sand & glued shut.

You may want to update your profile with location ... One of them could be an early developer hence the shell - less egg, curiosity made them peck it and yummy. Young layers do have some odd eggs sometimes while their reproductive organs develop.

 

[Mourgana]

What are you feeding them now?
Layer feed is not necessary, just add a separate dish of Oyster Shells. The wooden eggs will also aid them in learning where to lay their eggs. You can also use a golf ball or plastic Easter eggs filled with sand & glued shut.

You may want to update your profile with location ... One of them could be an early developer hence the shell - less egg, curiosity made them peck it and yummy. Young layers do have some odd eggs sometimes while their reproductive organs develop.

I'm in the Pacific northwest. I'm currently feeding them the medicated purina chick crumbles. Same thing they've been on their whole lives. I was told to keep feeding it to them til they started laying and just bought a new bag because the feed store guy said they wouldn't start laying til they turned 6 months and they are 5 months now.

 

[gtaus]

I also ordered some wooden eggs off amazon that should arrive on Tuesday to put in their nesting area so that if they decide to peck at eggs they won't be successful in getting a reward.

That's what I was going to suggest. Thanks to this post, I guess I'll make sure my fake eggs get put into the nest boxes before they start laying. I don't think you will have to start all over. Also, I was told to expect some shell-less eggs and some double yolk eggs while the chickens are still maturing. I think you will be fine.

 

[Mourgana]

That's what I was going to suggest. Thanks to this post, I guess I'll make sure my fake eggs get put into the nest boxes before they start laying. I don't think you will have to start all over. Also, I was told to expect some shell-less eggs and some double yolk eggs while the chickens are still maturing. I think you will be fine.

Thanks!! I sure hope so!!

Everything I've read says buff Orpingtons wont start laying til they're 6 months old. I got my babies the beginning of March, so they're still only 4 1/2 months old right now.

I had them before too and they never laid this early either!

I'm in total shock!!

I just hope I caught the issue soon enough to stop them from really learning the egg eating habbit.

 

[CindyinSD]

Mine got hold of a lash egg. I was there, but they (well a couple of them) slurped it down before I realized what had happened. I’ve never had any trouble out of them, though. Maybe the shell-less egg will have been too different from an intact one for them to associate the two.

If worse comes to worst you can always build them a roll-out nest box. Kind of a pain, though.

Hey, I got some bitter apple spray (sold to stop puppies from chewing stuff up) and sprayed all my geese with it (liberally) because one of them was pulling the others’ feathers and it HURT. They would scream when she did it. She tasted the spray twice. No more feather pulling since then... not once. I didn’t think it tasted all that horrible, tho I wouldn’t want it on my pancakes. She obviously thought it was the worst ever. You might try spraying your fake eggs with that. I got it at Runnings but Walmart probably has it, pet stores, other farm supply stores...

 

[Mourgana]

Mine got hold of a lash egg. I was there, but they (well a couple of them) slurped it down before I realized what had happened. I’ve never had any trouble out of them, though. Maybe the shell-less egg will have been too different from an intact one for them to associate the two.

If worse comes to worst you can always build them a roll-out nest box. Kind of a pain, though.

Hey, I got some bitter apple spray (sold to stop puppies from chewing stuff up) and sprayed all my geese with it (liberally) because one of them was pulling the others’ feathers and it HURT. They would scream when she did it. She tasted the spray twice. No more feather pulling since then... not once. I didn’t think it tasted all that horrible, tho I wouldn’t want it on my pancakes. She obviously thought it was the worst ever. You might try spraying your fake eggs with that. I got it at Runnings but Walmart probably has it, pet stores, other farm supply stores...

Oh that's a great idea!! Thank You very much!!
I'll have to look into that tomorrow!

I'm a bit concerned that this isn't the 1st egg they've devoured, I've heard them singing the "egg song" the past couple weeks but just figured they were yelling at me to come and feed them.

Guess I'll find out in the weeks to come!

 

[aart]

Soft and thin shelled eggs are not unusual for newly laying birds,
and are fair game for eating....it won't make them into 'egg eaters'.

Put out a separate feeder with Oyster Shell...and sprinkle some on the ground.

Fake eggs are good to have in the nests, to show them where to lay and to foil the pretty common 'curiosity pecking'.... there's no need to spray anything 'nasty' on them.

Chaotic time when pullets come into lay, lots of squawking, funky eggs laid all over the place, messing up of nests, but all perfectly normal and no need to panic or come to drastic conclusions. It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.

 

[gtaus]

Soft and thin shelled eggs are not unusual for newly laying birds,
and are fair game for eating....it won't make them into 'egg eaters'.

Put out a separate feeder with Oyster Shell...and sprinkle some on the ground.

Fake eggs are good to have in the nests, to show them where to lay and to foil the pretty common 'curiosity pecking'.... there's no need to spray anything 'nasty' on them.

Chaotic time when pullets come into lay, lots of squawking, funky eggs laid all over the place, messing up of nests, but all perfectly normal and no need to panic or come to drastic conclusions. It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.

I'll have to keep all that in mind when my girls start laying around Sep-Oct. Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[so lucky]

I just consider all that confusion "practice". They even practice the egg song, and try out the nest boxes. I wouldn't spend time worrying about the soft shell egg they ate. The wooden eggs in the nest will help them figure it out.