New Chicken Tender-New coop-Broken Eggs-

[Tomshell]

Greetings from Foggy California. I have 3 birds that are new to me, 2 laying hens and 1 pullet. They are Speckled Sussex.I bought them last Sunday. I put them into an a frame chicken tractor that I just built. First time chicken owner and I am super excited to have them.
So, chickens went into coop Sunday. I am feeding them crumble, some scratch 2x a day, and an occasional treat,apple,banana,a few grapes,etc.
Monday morning I found a good solid egg! Hooray! Tuesday morning a broken, hard shelled egg. Wednesday morning the same. Wednesday (today) after finding the egg and removing it, I put a store bought white egg in the box and went to work. When I came home, it was also smashed and maybe eaten. I have read a bunch but have no idea what to do. Ideally I should remove the egg right after it is layed, but I am not here all the time. Any suggestions?

 

[rosemarythyme]

What was the store bought egg for, to teach them where to lay? Better to use fake eggs (I use golf balls) since they'll not only show them where to lay, but they're also unbreakable so that may help deter any egg eating habits that are starting to form.

Also you may be feeding too many treats, which can dilute the nutrition in their feed. For the time being I would cut back or cut out treats and stick with feed.

 

[aart]

Ditto on cutting out all treats.
Plus they are still acclimating to their new place.
Often when birds are moved they lay the first day, eggs already in process, then may not lay for another week or longer.
Stress can cause bad behavior like egg eating,
'stress' includes moving, new diet, crowding, etc.

 

[Tomshell]

My thinking was to use a store bought egg to determine if the eggs were being broken or maybe the shells were too thin or breaking during laying? Anyways, I put some golf balls in the nest and this evening before I tucked them in I found a good whole egg! Tomorrow I will change the design up a bit to give them a little more room. I am learning so much on this site....thanks again.