My hens are burying their eggs!

[Artichoke Lover]

I have 12 pullets that are almost a year old. In the past 2 weeks they’ve started burying the eggs under the straw in the nesting boxes and 1 has stopped laying in the box. They’ve never done this before. They’ve also just started going through their first molt but are still laying pretty good so far. This is a bit of a problem because it makes it easy to miss eggs and I’m worried about them burying them in other parts of the coop where I won’t find them until I muck it out.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Try giving less bedding in there nest. They might not be burying them but just losing them under a lot of bedding.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Maybe one pullet lays an egg, and then when the next one comes in it has to "rearrange" the nesting bow again before it lays it's egg. When if "fixes up" the nesting box to it's personal preference, it buries the other pullet's egg by accident. Could this be possible in your situation?

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you're afraid removing some straw will lead to eggs cracking, try padding the floor of the nest box with a folded empty feed bag. Fold it so it'll fit snugly on the bottom of the box (as seen in middle box here), then top with nesting material.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Okay. Then it sounds like you might have too much bedding in the nesting boxes. Please post pictures.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Could you post a pic of your nesting boxes?

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Try giving less bedding in there nest. They might not be burying them but just losing them under a lot of bedding.

I haven’t changed the amount or type of bedding. I’ll try taking some out for a day or two but with any less I risk the eggs cracking. They also all have tendency to drag any eggs they can find to their nest like a broody but none of them have ever stayed on the nest. I’ve actually caught them rolling the eggs back into the middle before they get in.

Maybe one pullet lays an egg, and then when the next one comes in it has to "rearrange" the nesting bow again before it lays it's egg. When if "fixes up" the nesting box to it's personal preference, it buries the other pullet's egg by accident. Could this be possible in your situation?

I don’t think so. Usually all the eggs are covered in every nesting box even if there is only 1 egg.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Are your nest boxes wooden? It's possible that this may be happening , I've seen my hens do this. A hen scratches around randomly in the Box, knocks the egg up against the wood, cracking it. And proceeds to eat the egg, and has learned that if she gets in the box and scratches around hard enough she may get an egg to eat. Therefore she tries it everyday in every box. I've even caught a hen with a porcelain egg repeatedly kicking it against the box trying to crack it open. in the Box

That's a pretty good idea. Thanks for pointing it out to the OP

 

[Artichoke Lover]

picture of the nesting boxes plus some eggs that haven’t been covered. I haven’t found evidence of a broken egg. The cracking is due to the occasional thin shelled egg I get that will get cracked a little on the end if the bottom of the box doesn’t have a good layer of straw.

 

[Alabama Fly]

My girls don't leave a trace of eggshell, and barely even wet spot. They will break and eat the eggs and embryos out from under a setting hen. My hens have to set in cat crates. I got them to stop eating the nest box eggs by putting mustard filled eggs in the nest. Oh and a Hawk got the smart one that started the trend.