Thin shells !!!

[City Farmer Jim]

This is going to be a lenghty question for the great people here at BYC and need(I think) the whole story. It starts with 4 Blue Star chicks 3 pullets and a Roo kinda ..we rehomed the roo, once they were 13-14 weeks integrated them to 8 girl flock...about 4 weeks later 1 pullett tests her wings and flies the 4 ft chainlink fence and was taken by a predator...all we found was feathers. Next we rescued a stray puppy(I know its BYC but bare with me) we are down to 2 Blue Stars...we free range our flock ad the new pup isn't chicken broke yet. Another month passes and for no reason we could determine we find a dead Blue Star...still warm with no physical injury we could find. Down to 1 blue star, here cones the question(s) now the new puppy has figured out raw egg is a good treat and ate 2 eggs in a nest box then after we correct her of doing that a week later I starts again...and today we catch the last Blue stsr in a nest box face first eating an egg then as I go to replace the nest pad there is a second bird eating the egg...now I am not sure WHO started the egg eating. Question 1. How do you stop hens/pulletts from eating eggs, we both work full-time and they are unattended from 7am to 4pm.
Question 2. The egg that was eaten had a very thin shell. What causes that condition. We have not had thin shells in the past and normally have very thick shells. We live where there was an old river delta and there is plenty of calcium and shell fragments
Question 3. Does anyone think we need to offer oyster shell for free will eating. Thank you in advance and sorry for the LONG post.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

1 last question to add to my prior post...how do you stop a hen/pullett from eating eggs. Im still not sure she actually pecked the egg open or if it was open because it was thin and cracked open upon it being laid.

 

[nuthatched]

Blow out an egg, fill with yellow dish soap, not mustard, put back in nest.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. If the problem persists, consider a roll away nest box. But sounds to me like they were taking advantage of an egg that was already cracked/broken, instead of deliberately damaging it to get at the contents.

2. Is the egg of a new layer? If you get one or two problematic eggs, I wouldn't worry about it.

3. You mentioned earlier you have lots of calcium in the area. How accessible is it to the birds, and how are they ingesting it? As long as they have a good source of calcium you shouldn't need oyster shell, but if you're not sure it's enough, oyster shell is fairly inexpensive and gives them another option for calcium.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

I think you are probably right about taking advantage of a broken egg. The dog may have started them down that road when she would take egg(s) but were outside the nest box, so it may have been "well its already broken i may as well eat it" kind of thing. We have not had any "egg eaters" before this.

 

[affacat]

I was always told weak shells are due to lack of calcium, and observational evidence has supported that.

We keep our eggshells, then every month or so bake them for 2 hours at 180-200, then blend them into tiny pieces (not dust) and put them out for the chickens and don't have any issues. I assume the rare malformed egg we do get (like soft shell eggs, verrrry rare) are just misfires.

 

[Saveria]

This person has some good advice on egg eating in the article below. I'm not sure this will continue to be a problem for you, some of mine have eaten a broken egg, or pecked an egg, but egg eating hasn't ever stuck. If you continue to see it, you can scroll down to the accessories section of this article for some tips, in addition to the good advice above.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...um=email&utm_campaign=ed27&utm_content=iss175

Also, you'll have to find a way to keep the puppy out of the nest boxes/coop/wherever they lay. It makes sense that dogs would have an instinctual urge to eat eggs, so it would be a near impossible challenge to train her out of it. That may solve the problem entirely.

I give our hens oyster shells and ground eggshells, so I agree with everyone else here. Even if it is in their environment, they may still not be getting it somehow, or have it be in the right form for them.