nervous about not collecting eggs until late tomorrow

[gale65]

We have to leave at 10 am and won't be back until at least 6 pm. I hope the girls don't decide to do anything fishy with the eggs left in the nest all day. I know once something like that starts it's hard to stop it so I always try to check often during the day so they aren't tempted to peck at them or anything. Fingers crossed.

 

[Beekissed]

No...they will not turn into egg eaters no matter how long you leave the eggs in the nest. Even if you broke open an egg and fed it to them every day right there on the coop floor they would not turn predatory over their own eggs. If one happens to break in the nest because of a weakened shell or a clumsy and fat hen, then they will of course eat that egg but they will STILL not turn into "egg eaters" because of it. Trust me.

 

[LiLRedCV]

We've left ours for a 4-day weekend, extra large feeders filled to the max with extra waterers when we didn't have a chicken sitter. Came back to a boatload of eggs. Didn't appear to have any missing when you based it upon averages of the flock.

I even feed some boiled eggs/shells back to my flock when I have extras. If a raw one is broken already, they'll be all over it tho'!

 

[gale65]

I've actually had it happen before. It was a long time ago (I raised layers and broilers about 20 yrs back). One laid from the roost for some weird reason (I was there at the time); it broke and they all went after it. After that I kept finding busted eggs in the nests but I never did figure out who it was. It never happened at all until that roost egg and then it was daily. Nowadays I can at least put a video camera in the coop if it happened again and see who the culprit is.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Yep.

Quote:
And yep.

 

[BarefootMom]

I usually don't gather eggs but once a day and it is usually in the evening when I am doing nighttime chores. the chickens are always last because they are closest to the house. It is usually 7 or later by the time I get out there. Sometimes we wait until the next day to get the eggs if it is already dark. I don't worry much about it.

 

[gale65]

We're home and everything was fine. There were 5 eggs today-so far that ties with our record. Like I said above, I have had chickens suddenly start breaking eggs after the one laid from the roost so I know it can happen. Maybe it's not common but obviously it can. Hopefully it never will with ours.

 

[Hiram]

One of the best feelings I've had raising laying chickens was when I waited a day or so to collect the eggs. It was like when I got my very first. There were so many.