Predator or mean hen??

cmsagirl

Chirping
Apr 6, 2015
55
2
86
I went to collect eggs this morning from our flock of 3hens and a rooster. We have a barred rock, golden laced wyandotte and bantam white legbar. They share a large nesting box and usually lay really well and get along great. Today the legbar egg and barred rock eggs were smashed and the Wyandotte egg was ok. I heard a hen cackling this morning early but it sounded like an "egg song". Any ideas??
 
I went to collect eggs this morning from our flock of 3hens and a rooster. We have a barred rock, golden laced wyandotte and bantam white legbar. They share a large nesting box and usually lay really well and get along great. Today the legbar egg and barred rock eggs were smashed and the Wyandotte egg was ok. I heard a hen cackling this morning early but it sounded like an "egg song". Any ideas??

It was most likely just a hen being a little careless in the nest, it happens sometimes. Unless the contents of the egg were not there I would ignore it completely. I for 7 eggs out of 7 hens the other day... BUT all that traffic in the nest gave me 3 broken eggs
barnie.gif
, sometimes the eggs fall a little too high and break the weaker eggs in the nest as well. (just remembered that)
 
I have one hen that lays fairly thin shelled eggs,( haven't been able to pinpoint which one yet) and I find that if I don't keep a pretty thick bed of nesting material in the boxes I get broken eggs. As long as their not eating the eggs you should be ok. all you can do is keep the bedding in your boxes up and maybe offer a little oyster shell on the side and see what happens.
 
Thank you all for the tips! Their shells aren't flimsy thin or super fragile but they are a bit thinner than my other flocks eggs. (this flock is new to me, I bought them a week ago) I gave them oyster shell the past 2-3 days, I usually give it to my others but these didn't have access to it with thier previous owner.
UPDATE:
only the little leghorn hen had laid this morning (which is a bit odd, the other 2 usually lay too) and her egg had a dime sized hole poked in the bottom of it, the yolk was gone but there was still some fluid left on the bottom of the nesting box.
 
Thank you all for the tips! Their shells aren't flimsy thin or super fragile but they are a bit thinner than my other flocks eggs. (this flock is new to me, I bought them a week ago) I gave them oyster shell the past 2-3 days, I usually give it to my others but these didn't have access to it with thier previous owner.
UPDATE:
only the little leghorn hen had laid this morning (which is a bit odd, the other 2 usually lay too) and her egg had a dime sized hole poked in the bottom of it, the yolk was gone but there was still some fluid left on the bottom of the nesting box.
You may have bought some egg eaters........or maybe mouse/rat with the dime sized hole?
 
Is there a safe way to vermin proof the coop that won't hurt the hens? It's pretty tightly closed up except maybe one ventilation spot I could see a vermin getting in. We haven't seen any but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Or if they are egg eaters, how can I fix that?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom