Holly nest?

[Duckfarmer1]

I read on a thread on here that an egg broke inside a duck. I’m not sure what happened in my nesting box but there was yolk all over the eggs. So I figured one was broken I’m holding them now. I don’t see any cracks. All of them are covered in yoke and the hay too. Do I need to worry about my chickens

 

[Eggs2chicks]

I found one like that befor and everything was fine then I found one from a hen that looked like she just went to the bathroom and the soft/very soft shell was on the ground by the egg. Everything went on as normal after. Sometimes they do come out not full formed in a hard shell. Never figured out why.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

It sounds like someone ate the eggshell and left you the sticky mess

 

[wyoDreamer]

wash the eggs and put the in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. I find that I can feel any cracks in the eggshell when I wash and dry them.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Ok. If they ate the egg. How do I prevent this

 

[wyoDreamer]

New layers may break eggs as they try to rearrange the nest to their liking before laying THEIR egg.
How big are your nest boxes, how many nest boxes are there and how many hens?

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Depends, really. As a general rule, an egg is broken and the hen/pullet instinctively eats it as a way to deter predators. They can break for a lot of reasons, whether there isn't enough nesting material in the box, thin shells, or as Wyo said she may have been rearranging and broke it.

I also think one will eat an egg if they're trying to get some missing nutrients. If you've got them on good feed with a side of oyster shell, than it was probably an accident that will happen again. In my experience, it's inevitable

Unless there is something else going on, I don't think you've got anything to worry about.

 

[OkieSLW]

I read on a thread on here that an egg broke inside a duck. I’m not sure what happened in my nesting box but there was yolk all over the eggs. So I figured one was broken I’m holding them now. I don’t see any cracks. All of them are covered in yoke and the hay too. Do I need to worry about my chickens

Maybe get them on some oyster shell to strengthen the shell. But you may need to bring in a vet.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

New layers may break eggs as they try to rearrange the nest to their liking before laying THEIR egg.
How big are your nest boxes, how many nest boxes are there and how many hens?

Nest boxes are exactly 11x8 as it said on website. There are 8 for 12 chickens...the shells are usually very hard...in fact everyone we give them to comment on that...we have only ever had two pullet eggs..so maybe it was hers...we rescued these chickens so we don’t know their age.. but we usually get between 9-11 eggs a day

 

[wyoDreamer]

Everything sounds good, so I would guess it was an oops and you will probably not see it again for a while.

Last winter I had eggs freeze in the nests before I could gather them and now I have an egg eater. Sometimes times when I am in the barn, I can hear her in the nest box trying to crack open an egg to eat, but by the time I get to there, she has hopped out of the nestbox and mixed into the flock.