This isn’t quite your typical “when will my pullets start laying?” thread. I have a small mixed flock, consisting of 1 mature EE hen (18 months old), 4 pullets of about 27 weeks of age (EE, RIR, Delaware, and Salmon Faverolles), a 20 week old Wheaten Ameraucana pullet, and a 23 week old Splash Ameraucana cockerel. I’ve been consistently getting 2-3 eggs per day for the last month, from the RIR and the EEs. I’m not surprised that the Faverolles is taking a bit longer to mature, but the Delaware has looked more than ready to lay for over 6 weeks! You can see her comb and wattle development in the photo above.
I was beginning to wonder if maybe I had an egg eater on my hands. But it seems unlikely that this would only affect a specific bird’s eggs, and I’ve seen no evidence of broken shell or yolk remnants in the nests. The birds have been confined to the coop for the past week due to fencing issues in the run, so there’s no possibility that she’s hiding a nest somewhere.
I just replaced the bedding in my nest boxes over the weekend. When I checked the coop after work today, I noticed that the center box (which is never used) was missing all its bedding. On closer inspection, it is also missing the two ceramic eggs I keep in each box! The eggs haven’t been moved to any of the other nests, and I sifted through all the bedding in the coop - they are GONE.
My coop isn’t snake proof, so I suppose there’s a very small possibility that a snake could have eaten the two fake eggs. But why would it ignore the other two nests? I live alone, but I do have neighbors - same question, though, as to why someone might only take the (fake) eggs out of one nest and leave the other two boxes undisturbed.
What the...? I’m stumped.
