How to tell if chickens are eating eggs?

[Queen of the chickens]

Here are the facts:

1. Have a pen with 2 Mille d'Fluer Banty Hens, 2 White Crested Polish Pullets, 2 Golden Laced Pullets, and 4 Cuckoo Marans Pullets, and one Mille Roo, and two Golden Laced Cockerels.
2. The second week of September I started getting white, pointy eggs. Pretty much had to be the white crested Polish. They are almost a month older than the Golden Laced Polish.
3. After about a week, I stopped getting any eggs from Banty Hens (could me molt for them) and from the Polish. I went a week with no eggs from that pen.
4. For the past 3 weeks, I have gotten one Maran Egg almost every day. (Some Marans look more mature than others, though all are the same age.)

Question: What happened to the Polish Layer? Everyone appears healthy and happy. I know days are getting shorter, but to stop after just starting?

If I have an egg eater, how can I tell who it is????

 

[M.sue]

[quote=Queen of the chickens]Here are the facts:

1. Have a pen with 2 Mille d'Fluer Banty Hens, 2 White Crested Polish Pullets, 2 Golden Laced Pullets, and 4 Cuckoo Marans Pullets, and one Mille Roo, and two Golden Laced Cockerels.
2. The second week of September I started getting white, pointy eggs. Pretty much had to be the white crested Polish. They are almost a month older than the Golden Laced Polish.
3. After about a week, I stopped getting any eggs from Banty Hens (could me molt for them) and from the Polish. I went a week with no eggs from that pen.
4. For the past 3 weeks, I have gotten one Maran Egg almost every day. (Some Marans look more mature than others, though all are the same age.)

Question: What happened to the Polish Layer? Everyone appears healthy and happy. I know days are getting shorter, but to stop after just starting?

If I have an egg eater, how can I tell who it is????[/quote]

You can tell by The one with egg on it's face....lol Seriously, it's hard sometime. You can try to catch them in the act.

 

[midget_farms]

If you dont see shell & egg yolk all around its probably not the chickens eating the eggs. Rats tend to take eggs home with them. I'd suspect that first. Or they just stopped laying. That is not uncommon for a young hen. especially this time of year when the days are getting short.

 

[Queen of the chickens]

I wasn't sure if they would slick the entire egg up or not. I have checked for dried egg around the beak and haven't found any. I will speak to the cat regarding the rat issue. I know we have several big snakes around, but didn't think they would be that consistent or have a preference for only white eggs.

 

[Judy]

If the snakes can get in the coop, that is probably the answer, at least IME. It's usually the answer when production drops unexpectedly here. I have found skinny young snakes under the metal garbage can holding the feed. There's even wire to stop them, but no system is perfect. You'd be surprised how small of a rat snake can swallow an egg, or anyway I was. Actually the last one got a chick. The snake was maybe 1/2" in diameter, at most. We took care of him, but with a little luck he'd have chosen a golf ball the next time, and that would have been the end of him.

My guess is they would choose the warmest egg. I can't believe they can see color very well. Or maybe the white one was bright enough to make it show up better. And maybe people who know more about snakes than I will comment.