Soft shell egg eating

[Stefrrr]

There‘s a lot going on in the coop lately, and after the smoke, heat, and rapidly shortening days, I wasn’t surprised that my four 6-month-old wyandottes started laying fewer eggs. When they did lay, about 3/4 of the time they were laying on the floor or the ground in the run. Mostly I was thrilled the three Marans keep laying.

Then about 10-14 days ago, I was in the run looking for eggs, and a Wyandotte laid a soft shell egg right in front of me as she was walking across some of the run furniture. I had barely a second to process what I saw before one of the 12-week-old barred rocks grabbed it in her beak. As soon as she did, the membrane broke, the egg fell through the chicken wire the Wyandotte was standing on, and one of the Marans ate the egg from the ground. Oh, no, but what’s the chance of that happening again, right?

So time goes on, and we’re getting 2-3 Marans eggs every day and maybe one Wyandotte egg, maybe every other day. I chalked it up to weather, smoke, and reintroducing the cockerel to the flock, which is going remarkably well.

After a few good days of weather this week, general peace on earth, and one egg per Marans per day, on Friday this week I started to seriously suspect I might have an egg eating problem. After some investigation turned up what appears to be egg white in the coop bedding in front of the nest boxes, I’m convinced.

And then yesterday a Wyandotte laid a soft shell or shelless egg right in front of me and some of the Marans and BRs were there immediately to eat the yolk. Argh. I have to do something.

They have free access to oyster shell, eat scratch and peck grower feed (fermented and dry, free access), the coop is about 80 square feet (a little small for the 25 chickens, but half are not full size yet), 900 quart feet of run with furniture and a 100 sq foot covered roost/clubhouse, and six dark nest boxes with soft bedding and ceramic eggs.

I have a plan and some questions, and I’d appreciate advice on all of it!

Plan:

• Check eggs often - hourly or more frequently. I currently check 2-3 times per day until mid afternoon
• add curtains to nest boxes
• add leg bands to the wyandottes and barred rocks to see if I can ID the soft shell layers and worst eating culprits
• maybe get rollaway nest boxes? This would be hard to make work because of the layout in my coop, but I’d try it if I have to.
• worst case scenario: cull unreformable egg eater or soft shell layer if it persists

Questions:

• since these are newly laying pullets, how long should I expect it to take for the soft shells to resolve?
• I read a couple posts from people not concerned about eating soft shell eggs - does it not lead to eating shelled eggs?
• I’ve seen scratches on Marans eggs. is someone trying to eat them?

is this hopeless?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Is the entire flock laying eggs? I don't feed my laying hens starter feed, I feed layer feed to help with the calcium. Some people feed the entire flock All-Flock since they haver roosters also.

I like your plan to check the nesting boxes more. I don't think you need more nesting boxes, I have 16 hens with 3 nesting boxes (I had 6 but they only used 3 so I removed some for more space). I will take some time for their bodies to work out all the kinks.

 

[claudiabostic]

I feed my whole flock scratch & peck grower. I also make sure they have a lot of oyster shell available and I feed them black soldier fly larvae as a treat daily. Plus in hot weather I feed plain greek yogurt as a treat. Since I started doing this I haven't had any problems with soft shelled eggs. If one of the hens does lay a soft shelled egg, it gets eaten immediately, same with an egg that gets broken accidentally. But I've never had a problem with any of the hens pecking normal eggs to eat them. I'd say that your best plan is to eliminate the soft shelled eggs as much as possible. One thing I do if there's a soft shelled egg in spite of all the calcium rich treats, I bring out a powdered bone meal supplement that's made for pregnant dogs & cats. When I sprinkle some of that on the ground a lot of the flock races in to eat it. Some of that every day or every other day for a few days to a week takes care of the problem. With the powder you need to repeat it because it's absorbed quickly but whatever part of it isn't absorbed right away is passed very quickly.

 

[Stefrrr]

I feed my whole flock scratch & peck grower. I also make sure they have a lot of oyster shell available and I feed them black soldier fly larvae as a treat daily. Plus in hot weather I feed plain greek yogurt as a treat. Since I started doing this I haven't had any problems with soft shelled eggs. If one of the hens does lay a soft shelled egg, it gets eaten immediately, same with an egg that gets broken accidentally. But I've never had a problem with any of the hens pecking normal eggs to eat them. I'd say that your best plan is to eliminate the soft shelled eggs as much as possible. One thing I do if there's a soft shelled egg in spite of all the calcium rich treats, I bring out a powdered bone meal supplement that's made for pregnant dogs & cats. When I sprinkle some of that on the ground a lot of the flock races in to eat it. Some of that every day or every other day for a few days to a week takes care of the problem. With the powder you need to repeat it because it's absorbed quickly but whatever part of it isn't absorbed right away is passed very quickly.

Thank you! I’ll try that powdered bone meal.
Curtains are hung!

(I kept trying to be a quilter, and I’d always get partway into a project and then find other things to do. These strips were already pieced together for a project I shelved years ago!)

I also read to try putting mustard in a blown out egg, so I emptied two Wyandotte eggs yesterday, filled them with mustard, and put them on the coop floor.

Someone had kicked a ceramic egg out of a nest box and onto the floor. It’s not the first time that’s happened. Is it possible someone has learned they can break an egg that way?

 

[Stefrrr]

Is the entire flock laying eggs? I don't feed my laying hens starter feed, I feed layer feed to help with the calcium. Some people feed the entire flock All-Flock since they haver roosters also.

I like your plan to check the nesting boxes more. I don't think you need more nesting boxes, I have 16 hens with 3 nesting boxes (I had 6 but they only used 3 so I removed some for more space). I will take some time for their bodies to work out all the kinks.

Just six of the oldest seven, if that. One of the Wyandottes’ combs is not fully developed. I think she’s not laying yet. Then there are five Easter Eggers (17 weeks old) and the twelve babies: 15 weeks old.
Scratch and peck grower is like all-flock.

 

[aart]

Is it possible someone has learned they can break an egg that way?

Possible.
Might need higher front on the nests...4-6".
Had to chuckle about your quilt curtains...BTDT(not in coop tho).

 

[Stefrrr]

Possible.
Might need higher front on the nests...4-6".
Had to chuckle about your quilt curtains...BTDT(not in coop tho).

Thank you, I’ll see if I can add a strip of wood at the bottom of the front.
I went into the coop after taking the food to the run this morning. I don’t usually do that because the chickens are usually out in the run by the time I get out there. I found three eggs under the roosts! Two soft shell and one deformed. One soft shell has the very thinnest of shells, and the other is membrane-only, I think.

The other one has maybe a corrugated shell? Is it possible there’s an illness in my flock that’s causing this? Or could it still just be newly laying pullet issues?

 

[aart]

The other one has maybe a corrugated shell?

Slab sided.
Hard to know just what is causing it, if all birds are new to laying I'd wait it out.
Make sure they have a good chicken ration, few or no 'treats', and oyster shells on the side.

 

[Stefrrr]

I got two Wyandotte eggs with full shells today, and three marans eggs, for five in one day - the most In one day so far!
The first Wyandotte egg was under the roost first thing, so I think someone is laying at night or in the morning? I’m hoping it clears up.
I still need to add a wood strip to keep the bedding and eggs in better, and I’m going to try switching to layer feed and hope the rooster doesn’t suffer.