My Chicken Eggs Keep Cracking Before I can Even Get Them!

[chicks13]

Hello, So when I go to collect my eggs for the day I come to see a cracked one in the middle of the coop around every day. It is only one egg but I think it seems that the chicken is laying her egg while she is on the perch?! Is there anything I can do about it?
Thank you!

 

[Chick2chicken]

Do you offer a calcium supplement such as crushed oyster shells? Hen's require quite a bit of calcium to produce hard egg shells. Maybe she's laying and the shell is so thin it cracks under her? As for your prediction here is someone with a similar problem and other people's solution https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-laying-while-standing-up.920258/
I hope this helped!
Alex

 

[aart]

Hello, So when I go to collect my eggs for the day I come to see a cracked one in the middle of the coop around every day. It is only one egg but I think it seems that the chicken is laying her egg while she is on the perch?! Is there anything I can do about it?
Thank you!

Has this only happened once.... or every day?
How old are your birds and how long have they been laying?
Was the shell very thin or....?
Do you have other birds that are laying in the nests?
We need more info to make a viable suggestion as to what the problem might be and how to 'fix' it.

 

[chicks13]

My chickens recently started laying around a week or two ago. Her shells seem to be a little bit thin but we bought alfalfa hay to give her more calcium. It seems that it is only one bird whos egg is cracking. We have three birds and the other two actually lay in the nesting box but it seems that the girls whos egg are cracking does not lay in the nesting box, because we find her eggs in the middle of the coup. Thank you!

 

[aart]

What all and how exactly are you feeding?
Thin shells are not just about calcium,
they also need other nutrients to be able to uptake and apply the calcium.

 

[chicks13]

This is what my chickens feed is right now:
https://www.amazon.com/Purina-Layen...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[MamaBird89]

One of my girls was doing the same thing. I just started taking her eggs from the bottom of the coop and putting them in her nest box. She almost immediately starting laying in her box after that.

 

[chicks13]

Awesome! I will try that out. Thank you

 

[MamaBird89]

And on thin egg shells, I’ve never had a problem. But here’s what I do, I will go to TS and get 4-5 different bags of feed and mealworms. A layer feed, a feather fixed, cracked corn, a scratch grain, and oats. A big bag of mealworms. I bought a giant storage container and just mix them all together. It costs about $150 every 3 months or so. my birds also get fresh veggies and berries. I’ll buy the giant value bags of frozen veggies and wild blueberries at Walmart. My girls eggs are almost too thick. We have trouble cracking them and it’s a hell of a time peeling them when we boil them I feed them veggies and berries mixed with their feed twice a day, and they free range the rest of the time. Sometimes I’ll get the tiny pre cooked shrimp and just thaw them out and throw it in with their meals also. I hope this helps! Good luck with your girls

 

[chicks13]

Oh thank you so much I will make sure to try this out! Just one quick question... my chickens don't like mealworms which is a bit silly since I know most chickens love mealworms. Do you know of any substitutes for mealworms?