Small Hole and Slight Cracks In Eggs

[drayzchickens]

HEELLLLPPPP!!!!

~ First: Several of my hens eggs have started having a small hole and some slight cracks in them.. What do I need to do?

~ Second: Two of my hens are laying their eggs on the ground and I have 13 nesting boxes and 8 hens... so its not that they don't have room....What should I do?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do the egg shells seem a normal thickness to you? Are the holes like a hen stepped on them and the toe nail left a hole/crack or are you thinking they are pecking at them, or is it a defect in the shell? Have you noticed any signs of eggs having been eaten? Are you feeding them a regular Layer feed, and have oyster shell on the side?
With the floor eggs, are they laying them in the same place / making a nest on the floor, or are they dropping them from a roost or something? What sort of nesting boxes do you have? Can you make them more attractive to the hens? Easier to get into, darker, more secluded, give them different choices?

 

[drayzchickens]

Yes the eggshell is the same thickness. It looks more like a hen stepped on it then a peck mark.. But the inner skin layer was not broke because you could hold the egg where the hole was on bottom and nothing would leak out. Yes I feed them Purina Layer Pellets and cracked oyster shells occasionally. About the floor eggs it's not always in the same place and it's not near the roost so they must be making a nest on the floor. We built our own nesting boxes. I will try to get a picture on here later.

 

[drayzchickens]

These are the holes in the eggs...


These are 3 of my 13 nesting boxes...

 

[nab58]

looks like peck marks to me.

 

[drayzchickens]

It may be.. But you would figure if they were pecking it and made one hole, then they would eat the whole thing. It also may be older hens pecking the newbies eggs to prevent it from hatching.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I would vote toe nail marks I think. Do you feed much in the way of treats or supplemental food? How old are your girls? With your nesting boxes, you might want to consider putting another perch about 6-12" in front of them, so they can stand on it and look in the box, it will make them easier for the hens to get into, especially ones that aren't that agile. If they seem to only want to use one nest box and are lining up on the floor to use it, they may drop an egg there if they can't get in that nest soon enough. If they get too bad with using one next I will usually close that one off for a couple of days and that tends to make them use more nests again. Do you have fake eggs in the nests?

 

[aart]

I would suggest raising the roof of the nest boxes, that front edge of the roof looks to be kind of restrictive.
They need to be able to get in and turn around while standing.
Agrees with a perch in front of nests.

I keep 2 golf balls in each nest at all times, 8 hens - 4 nests and they use them all, 2 sometimes 3 different nests on different days.
I feed 20% protein flockraiser, free choice oyster al the time and feed back all egg shells.

Not sure about the holes, kind of strange. How many and what ages are your hens?
Making the nests more comfortable and keeping an eye on things multiple times a day if you can might help figure out what's going on.
Good Luck!

 

[LoveChickens123]

to me i think u have an egg eating problem

u can put fake eggs in the nesting boxes and put mustard in them
or golf balls they will get tired of pecking and they hate the taste of mustard

if u put fake eggs in the nesting boxes the hens might know to lay there now

 

[ccabal]

I had the same problem, and I discovered that the problem was that the hens had cleared out the bedding from their nest boxes, so the bottom of it was bare wood..and as they layed eggs, they would fall onto the wood, and they would get the same type of crack are you are seeing. When I added more bedding material the problem went away