RIR eating eggs

[Wanda P]

I have 10 RIR, 23 weeks old. We got our 1st egg 8/29 on the floor of the coop not the nesting box. Next day there was no egg. Yesterday morning I found an egg again on the floor of the coop. This morning there was no egg. However, later this morning my big RIR was singing her song, all the other chickens were running in and out of the coop. When I checked the coop I had a chicken (not sure if it was the one who layer) pecking in the nesting box, when I opened the box I found she was eating what was left of an egg.

How do I stop this. They had been eating start and grow, we just switched to the Layenna pellets. Are we feeding them the right stuff? We are new to raising chickens and eggs. Any advise would be helpful.

 

[David1998]

Eggs can get broken when they are laid. When that happens, they'll usually eat it. That is not a big deal, unless it's happening often enough they get use to eating the eggs. This could be your problem and it happened just once. They don't always lay every day those first few days. Lack of adequate calcium makes weak shells, so just switching to layer will help avoid them breaking. If the ones you harvested had weak shells, offer them crushed oyster shells.

If you've got one breaking the eggs and then eating them, that's a big problem that's almost impossible to stop. Worse, they'll teach the others.

I'd keep a close eye on them. If I believed I had one breaking eggs, I'd quarantine her to confine and confirm the problem. You could always put her back after a while and see if it continues. If it's still the problem, you either need a roll away nest or make chicken soup.

 

[Wanda P]

Thanks David. Hopefully it is a weak egg situation. But I will definitely be watching more closely. Fingers crossed I don't have an egg eater, to early for chicken soup.