Pecked hole egg...Mystery solved!!!

[scrapmom5]

My Polish have started to lay after their move from their old home to their new home. One hen is laying an egg a day. Awesome!

The other hen is also laying an egg a day....she then pokes a small hole into the pointed end. She does not break the inner membrane though. I am not even sure she is doing it. We just have a small hole in one end. I have add extra shavings to the next boxes thinking that if the egg fell and cracked that would fix it. It didn't. I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions?

 

[beakkeeper]

Try putting some golf balls or some fake wooden eggs in there with the real eggs. When she tries to peck it, she'll find out it's inedible, and will probably stop. Or you could get the eggs out of the nests a little sooner.

Good Luck!

 

[jenichick]

We just went through a rough time a few weeks ago with hen's eating the eggs. I started noticing beak cracks in a few eggs then I noticed my egg production went way down, I didn't think that they would eat the shell and all but they do and can. I would nip it in the bud, the golf ball trick is a good idea.

 

[arlee453]

Also check her upper beak to make sure it isn't overgrown. You can use a nail file or clippers to take off just the very top of the beak which will make it less sharp.

She may just be breaking the shells accidentally as she moves the eggs around while layin.

 

[scrapmom5]

We solved the problem...Flopsy (our slow laying polish) lays cute eggs with a slight bump on the pointed end of the egg. Sometimes when the eggs lands in the nest box it hits the bump on the pointed end and creates the hole. I have added oodles of shavings into the two nest boxes she likes and make sure she doesn't kick it all out in her theatrics in laying.

As a side note...Topsy (our other polish) goes into the box and lays and egg. Little time wasted. Flopsy on the other hand goes into the box and looks around then goes into the other box to look around (we have 6 boxes she just likes two of them). She will go back and forth for a while before she sits in one...then she scratches the shavings around...then turns around and scracthes some more. This goes on for quite a while (up to two hours) Once she finally settles down she will lay an egg. Is this normal or is she just a little OCD?

Just curious.

 

[FarmGirl01]

Thats very interesting. I get a egg every few days with a small hole in it. The membrane is still intact. I'm glad you solved the problem. Maybe I need more nesting material.

 

[swtangel321]

I had a hen that did the same thing to the small end of her egg, first I thought she was a evil hen and didn't want me to have her eggs !!! Then I thought maybe the eggs hits the wood....I did the golf ball thing, got pratice plastic golf ball and put them in the nest.... WOOOO-HOOOOO she stoped doing it !!!! Once in a while she will knock the golf ball out of the nest but no harm done and by that time she has played enough so she moves on to the next thing to do !!!! So shes not an evil hen (well kind of) just a little wacky in the head (but arent they all)?????

 

[tiki244]

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