Roo and 2 hens eating eggs

[shanz7619]

Had this problem a while back but had it hacked and solved and now they are back to it again.
Our rooster and 2 of our hens, which just so happen to be his main squeezes, are eating any if not all eggs being laid. These 2 hens literally follow him everywhere. When it comes to pecking order it's him then those 2.
We put a couple golf balls inside the coop which worked for a while. We introduced 2 new hens who are slightly younger than the rest of the flock, but they just restarted the egg eating probably within the past 2 weeks.
We've extended everything to accommodate for the addition of the 2 new hens, but could boredom be a possible issue as to why they are eating their own eggs? Also have a pecking problem to the point of them pecking eachother to baldom.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

What do you feed them?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

What is your nesting material?

I had an issue with some of the eggs being eaten. I switched to hay after I realized that they were digging into the straw so much that the eggs were being laid on the floor of the nestbox and then some were getting broken and then eaten. Since switching to hay I haven't had an issue.

 

[shanz7619]

What do you feed them?

They get the same layer feed we've been giving them for the past year. Stayed with the same brand from when they were chicks but just went from starter up to layer feed. I believe it's Dumor, which we were told is the same as Purina even made by Purina just is $1 cheaper. I was going to switch them back to crumble because it seemed like even though they were getting all the pellets out of the feeder it was making them work more because the pellets are bigger

 

[shanz7619]

What is your nesting material?

I had an issue with some of the eggs being eaten. I switched to hay after I realized that they were digging into the straw so much that the eggs were being laid on the floor of the nestbox and then some were getting broken and then eaten. Since switching to hay I haven't had an issue.

We get the huge $5 blocks of pine bedding from tractor supply because it lasts us longer than anything else we tried using. Its not easy for some reason to find hay or straw around us at a cheapish price for as often as we would need it. The prices in my area are ridiculous.

 

[Kiki]

What is the exact size of your coop and how many total bird do you have in it?

 

[shanz7619]

What is the exact size of your coop and how many total bird do you have in it?

Not sure on the exact size of the coop but they always take turns laying. You know they are laying or getting ready to because they get really vocal. We get down there asap to get the eggs but usually the roo beats us to it. Altogether there are 7 chickens, 6 hens 1 roo. They have 4 nesting boxes but barely ever use them. They lay everywhere else in the coop. Our coop is elevated off the ground because of the very many predators. We just recently lost 1 of our original 6 due to fox and that's why we got the 2 new hens.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I have 75 chickens and if I were just using it for next boxes a bale of hay would last at least a couple of months. I get it at the feed store so I pay a little more at $6.25 a bale but like I said it lasts longer and you don't have the issue of them digging down to bare floor like with chopped straw or pine shavings.

With that few chickens a bag of pine shavings should be lasting you a good while as well. I have an 8x10 and a 6x8 coop and only buy a bag of shavings about once a month, if that.

 

[shanz7619]

I have 75 chickens and if I were just using it for next boxes a bale of hay would last at least a couple of months. I get it at the feed store so I pay a little more at $6.25 a bale but like I said it lasts longer and you don't have the issue of them digging down to bare floor like with chopped straw or pine shavings.

With that few chickens a bag of pine shavings should be lasting you a good while as well. I have an 8x10 and a 6x8 coop and only buy a bag of shavings about once a month, if that.

Bag of shavings does us a good while. In the winter we double up on thickness because of the coop being raised off the ground and cold air isn't their best friend lol. But I think I might have to hit up my areas FB yardsale group and see if anybody knows of where I can get bales because our tractor supply doesn't carry it. All they carry is the pine shavings. And I might have to activate my discount thrPugh Chewy since I work there and get them some toys for boredom issues.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

My TSC doesn't carry hay either, except for small expensive bags for rabbits and other small animals. I see a lot of ads for hay on the local FB farming pages, craigslist, and if you have any of the free classified publications that you find at the entrances to gas stations and chinese food places lol. It looks like Knisley's on Ritner Hwy sells it for $6.99 a bale, which is expensive, but you don't need to buy it every week, especially if no one is sleeping and pooping in the nest boxes. I have a very large run so I replenish my nest boxes and the rest gets tossed around in flakes for the birds to scatter on their own.