need opinions

[jcabral]

So i have a flock of 9, all hens no roosters. 7 of them I have had for a while, and I added 2 12 week old pullets into the flock about two and a half weeks ago after keeping them near but not with the others for a while.

When I added them in, i slowly started seeing egg production decrease, which seemed normal. I was averaging 5-7 eggs per day, then it slowed to one to two. The previous hen that was at the bottom of the pecking order is the meanest to the new ones. I was outside about a week ago, and saw the previous lowest on the order lay a soft shelled egg on the ground, and all the others bum rushed it and ate it.

There have been two times now that I have found a broken egg in the nest box. I am not sure if I have an egg eater, or if the new pullets are playing around in there in the nests and breaking them. I have seen the new ones in the nest boxes a number of times either "practicing" or standing in there. I have checked the hens' beaks for yolk, but haven't noticed any for sure. One of them has had a muddy beak, which could be the remnints of yolk, but I am not sure. The most eggs in a day I have gotten in the last week is four, but its normally two, with maybe one broken one, but sometimes not.

I was offering layer pellets before the new addition, but then switched to grower with free choice oyster shell. They are typically in their run during the day, but free range most days when I get home.

Will egg production go back up soon, or do I have an egg eating problem? Any opinions would be helpful. As a side note, in the last year I never found one broken egg until I got these new pullets.

Thanks,

 

[Judy]

Probably not. Chickens will eat a broken egg eagerly; that doesn't necessarily mean they have started breaking them in order to eat them. It sounds more like they are moving the eggs around and / or walking on them. Maybe two or more are trying to get in a nest box at the same time, or maybe some of them are trying to push eggs out of the nest. Time may solve the problem as they get more used to each other. You could try adding an extra nest box, just a cardboard box or even a pile of hay in a corner -- this can be in the run as well as the coop. Sometimes tacking up scraps of cloth that hang partway down over the nest box opening can help with some of these managemnt problems, if you have that kind of nest box. Someone else may have a better idea, too.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's always wise to suspect egg eating and it sounds like that could be the case.
I'd try adding a lot of fake eggs of some sort and see if the unbreakable helps to deter breaking.
Make sure the oyster shell is available in a couple locations. I keep some near feed and some at the nests.
It wouldn't hurt to switch to layer for 2 or 3 days to level things out.

 

[jcabral]

So I have determined that they are not eating the eggs. The new ones were breaking them while playing in the nest boxes. They older birds are still not laying well at all. I get anywhere from 0 to 4 eggs. Any ideas how long it will take them to start up again? They have been together with the new pullets now for about three weeks. I have introduced new birds before, but it never affected egg laying this much.