Our first eggs, broken!

[Chickens by the Sea]

Hi everyone. We have been waiting in great anticipation for our first egg. This morning I went out to find two broken eggs under where the birds roost. Do they sometimes slip out while they are sleeping?? Is there something I need to do differently? They have a nest box, but I haven't seen them in it too much. Hmmm. Kind of disappointed.

Plus the shells are thin. I have been feeding them layers mash for a few weeks. I am hoping this is just because they are the first efforts.

 

[glassparman]

They will usually get the hang of it after a few weeks/months. I used to get eggs with a pecked spot at one end . . . this only lasted the first 4 months or so of their first laying cycle.

They don't do it anymore and I just figured they needed to work out all their own handling issues.

Michael

 

[msgenie516]

Hi,

Oh, too bad! It's so exciting to get first eggs and then they are broken, what a shame.

But I think you can do something about it. I would put some "fake" eggs in the nest box to give them an idea where they should lay. It kind of draws them to it. If you don't have any "fake" eggs, even a golf ball might work or anything with a similar rounded shape. This is an old trick that usually works pretty well.

New layers can be prone to thin shells (or even soft shells, you'll know one when you see it!), but make sure you are offering them oyster shell for the extra calcium. Not mixed with their food but on the side, so they can determine how much they need. They seem to know!

I'm sure this will work itself out. Good luck!

Genie

 

[Chickens by the Sea]

Thanks! I will try the oyster shells. I have put some golf balls in the nest box, and they seem to have been checking it out more today. It is a bit rustled up. After all of these months, it was sad for all of us to find broken eggs. I'm sure there will be many more to come soon.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

We got our first egg 11 days ago, but I've also found a few broken ones. It seems as if they don't quite know what to do the first time. We've had golf balls & fake eggs in our nests, but our pullets have still had some accidents.

We have ten 23 week old pullets and 5 of them have started laying since the first egg 11 days ago. I've had 3 eggs laid from the roost (from 3 different chickens - all different breeds) and even found one egg in the middle of the run (unbroken). One pullet found a corner she really liked and after finding 2 eggs laid there, 2 days in a row, I moved one of the nestboxes to that corner. She has continued to lay 1 egg per day in that box ever since (11 eggs in 11 days!). Four of my laying pullets have started laying by laying an egg in the wrong place, but figured it out by the following day. I'm sure yours will figure it out pretty quick too.

 

[Chickens by the Sea]

Quote:
Thanks! This is all helpful advice for the missteps and mishaps the girls might go through along the way. It is easy to get worried that they might never figure it out. We have five pullets. 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Production Reds, and 1 New Hampshire Red. We think it might have been the Barred Rocks who laid, because the shells were a lovely light pink color.