New Coop, Egg eater, and other behavioral questions

[SplashyDashyChicksHatchi]

Hello BYC!
It's been a while! A lot has been going on since the start of the summer and obviously, I haven't been able to post(not that anyone would be particularly interested in that fact ). I wanted to ask a few questions about my chickens and their recent activities.
1. First order of business: how do you break an egg-eater that has only been seen eating shell-less eggs?
A little background first. When we got the potential egg-eater, we were blissfully unaware of Ms.Eggs'(the hen's name) habit. We only recently noticed yesterday that she was eating an egg that Potpie(the second hen we got) had laid. The egg was shell-less(more on that later) and though I've read many articles about how to break an egg-eater, they only specify eggs that have shells. Should I just put some mustard in the nest box and see if that will work? We received her from our neighbor, who found her in the woods, she had an egg with her. Only problem being, there was a crack in the egg as though she had pecked it. We thought nothing of it and began busying ourselves with the preparations needed to house a chicken and the new chicks my mother brought home. My mother recently brought it up that maybe that was why she was left in the woods - because she was an egg-eater someone couldn't break? If nothing else works, we're going to have to get rid of Ms.Eggs and though she's bossy, loud, picky, and now, and egg-eater, she's our only laying hen as of now.

2. How to supplement for shell-less layers?
As I noted earlier, Potpie has been laying only shell-less eggs. We have of course been supplementing her with crushed oyster shell and boon worms for protein but what else could we do? I know that this could be a result of stress but there are so many factors I'm just not sure what it could be. It has been going on for about 3 weeks now and though we've tried supplementing her and giving the chooks fruit and veggies and plenty of boon worms, nothing has changed.
Could it be the Florida summer heat, the recent relocation of the coop, bothering from the other chickens maybe?

3. A little coop update.
From about 1 month since my last post, a lot has happened. Summer has started, school is out, and a brand new coop has arrived at the front door(actually more like the front road on a big semi because this thing is the Taj Ma-hen of coops) Maybe the recently new coop could be the cause or stressor for the recent activities of the chickens? We have a nice, big, covered run, about 6-7 feet long, with a small area under the actual coop that provides even more shade than the run cover and lets the younger chickens run from bossy Ms.Eggs, and hanging food and water. The coop itself is about 5-6 feet with 10 nest boxes and 3 roosts that run from the far wall to the other, and of course a hanging waterer in it for when it gets too hot.(I'm very excited about this coop) I am worried however, come Monday when we get our 2 new Cemani hens. These chickens(as you probably know) are all black, from the meat to the eggs, and black in the Florida sun and the summer don't mix well. The young black australorp pullet (who I referred to as blackie previously) is already panting when she's out of the shade. So I'm not sure how 2 entirely black hens will behave. Are there any measures I should take to be sure they all stay cool in the summertime?

4. Older age, newer behaviors
Now that the chickens are nearing 5 months(in September, meaning I previously gauged the age of my chickens entirely wrong ). They are almost full grown, and it is apparent that the golden laced Wyandotte I previously asked the gender of, is definitely a male(we nicknamed him Mortimer) but I haven't noticed him displaying any rooster-specific behaviors. He hasn't tried crowing, I haven't seen him attempting to mount one of the girls(though my dad claims to have seen him do it), he is very timid and won't attack me or any of the other chickens, and he is very good to his girls and will let them take food out of his beak(especially blackie, his brooder buddy). Is he just timid and shy or is he just too young to start doing these things(the 7 younger chickens are about 3 months, not including the 2 already laying)? The neighbor down the street has a rooster who crows every day, in the middle of the day, and you could probably still hear it from half-a-mile away. Yet ours never seems to show competition or even a strangled, half-hearted crow(not that I don't mind a quiet rooster).

So, thanks for reading my bizarre stockpile of questions and if you answered one or better yet, a few of them, thanks in advance. I'm still new to chickens and I'm still learning every day. Each post I put up with a casual picture or update there are about 7 questions that follow, so once again, thank you for helping me expand my knowledge of all there is to know about chickens, and there is a lot.
Happy travels!

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. First order of business: how do you break an egg-eater that has only been seen eating shell-less eggs?
A little background first. When we got the potential egg-eater, we were blissfully unaware of Ms.Eggs'(the hen's name) habit. We only recently noticed yesterday that she was eating an egg that Potpie(the second hen we got) had laid. The egg was shell-less(more on that later) and though I've read many articles about how to break an egg-eater, they only specify eggs that have shells. Should I just put some mustard in the nest box and see if that will work? We received her from our neighbor, who found her in the woods, she had an egg with her. Only problem being, there was a crack in the egg as though she had pecked it. We thought nothing of it and began busying ourselves with the preparations needed to house a chicken and the new chicks my mother brought home. My mother recently brought it up that maybe that was why she was left in the woods - because she was an egg-eater someone couldn't break? If nothing else works, we're going to have to get rid of Ms.Eggs and though she's bossy, loud, picky, and now, and egg-eater, she's our only laying hen as of now.

An egg eater is one that purposely opens an egg to eat it. Many chickens will eat and egg already opened. That is not an egg eater, it is a chicken taking advantage of available nutrition. I'm not sure which one you have but it does sound questionable. Maybe if you can get rid if the soft shelled eggs it will not be a problem.

There are many theories out there that as to how to break a true egg eater. They may work sometimes, sometimes they do not. If you confirm that you have an egg eater my suggestion is to either get rid of her or switch to rollaway nests so she cant get to the egg to eat it.

2. How to supplement for shell-less layers?
As I noted earlier, Potpie has been laying only shell-less eggs. We have of course been supplementing her with crushed oyster shell and boon worms for protein but what else could we do? I know that this could be a result of stress but there are so many factors I'm just not sure what it could be. It has been going on for about 3 weeks now and though we've tried supplementing her and giving the chooks fruit and veggies and plenty of boon worms, nothing has changed.
Could it be the Florida summer heat, the recent relocation of the coop, bothering from the other chickens maybe?

This one is rough. Yes it could be stress but it's been going on three weeks, that's a long time. Was she laying a regular egg and did she switch or has she always laid a shell-less egg? Some pullets or hens bodies do not process the calcium they eat properly or they don't have the right instincts to eat the supplemental calcium. That's usually genetic. When I have a problem I try to determine if it is a flock wide problem or an individual hen problem. I don't see a reason to treat the entire flock for an individual's problem, you may mess the others up. This sound like an individual hen problem.

Protein is not going to help, it is a calcium issue. Can you isolate her and sprinkle powdered calcium over her feed to force her to eat more calcium? See if this helps. That might give you a clue as to what is going on.

The problem I have with a consistent shell-less egg is that you could be training another chicken to become an egg eater if hey are not already. It sounds like the other chicken is only eating the soft shelled eggs for now. You seem to be getting hit with a lot of bad luck right now but if it were me, after three weeks of shell-less eggs she would be gone form my flock.

3. A little coop update.
From about 1 month since my last post, a lot has happened. Summer has started, school is out, and a brand new coop has arrived at the front door(actually more like the front road on a big semi because this thing is the Taj Ma-hen of coops) Maybe the recently new coop could be the cause or stressor for the recent activities of the chickens? We have a nice, big, covered run, about 6-7 feet long, with a small area under the actual coop that provides even more shade than the run cover and lets the younger chickens run from bossy Ms.Eggs, and hanging food and water. The coop itself is about 5-6 feet with 10 nest boxes and 3 roosts that run from the far wall to the other, and of course a hanging waterer in it for when it gets too hot.(I'm very excited about this coop) I am worried however, come Monday when we get our 2 new Cemani hens. These chickens(as you probably know) are all black, from the meat to the eggs, and black in the Florida sun and the summer don't mix well. The young black australorp pullet (who I referred to as blackie previously) is already panting when she's out of the shade. So I'm not sure how 2 entirely black hens will behave. Are there any measures I should take to be sure they all stay cool in the summertime?

Not sure exactly what temps you are seeing but if it's like here it is hot. The main things to do are to provide ventilation, shade, and lots of clean water. I have been known to wet down an area in the shade to cool off the ground, they lay on that area a lot. Some people set up fans or misters. You can even make a swamp cooler, where you get a fan blowing across the area and mist water in front of that, being careful with water an electricity.

4. Older age, newer behaviors
Now that the chickens are nearing 5 months(in September, meaning I previously gauged the age of my chickens entirely wrong ). They are almost full grown, and it is apparent that the golden laced Wyandotte I previously asked the gender of, is definitely a male(we nicknamed him Mortimer) but I haven't noticed him displaying any rooster-specific behaviors. He hasn't tried crowing, I haven't seen him attempting to mount one of the girls(though my dad claims to have seen him do it), he is very timid and won't attack me or any of the other chickens, and he is very good to his girls and will let them take food out of his beak(especially blackie, his brooder buddy). Is he just timid and shy or is he just too young to start doing these things(the 7 younger chickens are about 3 months, not including the 2 already laying)? The neighbor down the street has a rooster who crows every day, in the middle of the day, and you could probably still hear it from half-a-mile away. Yet ours never seems to show competition or even a strangled, half-hearted crow(not that I don't mind a quiet rooster).

Some cockerels develop slower than others. I've had some start showing those behaviors at 12 weeks, some wait a lot longer. It sounds like you might have a slow developer. In addition, the older hens could be suppressing his behaviors. One of them is dominant. That cockerel has to mature enough to be willing to stand up to her. I've had some do that at 4 months, though that is pretty young. I had one wait until 11 months to do that. I'd say 7 months probably an average but it can really vary by individual, plus her attitude has a lot to do with it.

Good luck!

 

[SplashyDashyChicksHatchi]

Thanks for your help Ridgerunner, I'll have to see if I can set up some sort of rolling egg box to get the shelled eggs from potentially being eaten. Also, I probably should have been more specific. The reason Potpie has been laying only shell-less eggs is that for many weeks she wasn't laying at all. If we did get an egg it would be thin and pale colored. I'm fine if we have to get rid of her(I tell myself that but I know I'm going to be upset :/), the only problem with getting rid of Potpie is that because she and Ms.Eggs are the only 2 mature birds in the flock, I'm worried that Ms.Eggs will pick on the younger pullets if Potpie wasn't there to keep her spot in the pecking order(also it would kill my sister if we had to cull her). If I were to make mash from mostly calcium supplement with some feed, would that be an efficient way to get the calcium that Potpie needs? On the topic of "egg eating", thanks for the insight on what is and what isn't an egg eater. I looked at a lot of articles but they never told me what an egg eater actually was. I'll make sure to pay attention and stop her if she tries to eat an actual egg with the shell and all that. Thanks again!

 

[Chickassan]

Potpie might have a shell gland issue, one hen here does either she lays shelless or giant shelled eggs. The shelless are nearly always eaten but the giant normies aren't touched. I tend not to worry about it because I can't use those anyway.