Would love some advice, please! Hens and eggs

[Jessikers]

Hi there--

Thank you for reading this!
My hens are about a year old and were laying about one egg every other day between the three of them. Now they are laying one egg between the three of them every 2 or 3 days! And here are some annoying things that have happened. One of the hens are pecking the eggs before we can get to them, and today one of the hens laid an egg with no shell! They have the best food money can buy, I let them out every day to peck around and they don't fight or look sick.

They are French Marans.

Thank you for any advice you can give me, I am just so frustrated.

 

[Quail Keeper]

I wouldn't be worried that the hens are only laying every 2-3 days. This is normal if the weather conditions change, if the environment stresses them out, or if a predator happens to scare them.

To help solve the pecking egg issue, you can take an egg, poke a hole in it, blow out the contents, and fill it with mustard. Chickens absolutely hate the taste of mustard and usually stop within a few days.

The shell-less eggs sometimes happen in every flock. They are called an "oops egg" because sometimes it just happens on accident at random times. Another cause of this can be caused by a lack of calcium which can be given to chickens in the form of oyster shells. Do you administer crushed oyster shells to them? If not, I suggest you do this. You can also use crushed up egg shells. The reason that a chicken needs so much calcium is because it takes so much to make just one egg! Without the right amount of calcium, chickens can begin to have all kinds of problems.

Feel free to PM me with any more questions!

 

[Jessikers]

Ok, I will try the mustard thing this weekend and let you know if it works, and I will spread oyster shell in their pen so they get lots and lots of it.
I'll need to buy a syringe for the mustard, I guess! haha
Thank you! I hope they start laying more eggs, I think a raccoon has rattled their cage a couple of times, but I have it REALLY secure so they can't get it. But I imagine it must scare the poor girls.

 

[Quail Keeper]

When you put the mustard in the egg, break a hole the size of the nose of the bottle and just squeeze it in until it is full. I hope this works for you and keep me updated!

 

[Jessikers]

Oh! Duhhhhh why didn't I think of that?? LOL
Thank you. :-D

 

[Jessikers]

Ok, so I put the mustard egg in there, and when I got to the coop this morning it had been pecked, and I saw mustard on one of the chicken's beaks. So I made another mustard egg and watched them. Two of the chickens are fighting over who gets to sit on the egg. If one is sitting on the egg, the other tries to peck the egg. I put the egg outside the nesting box and they left it alone, and didn't peck it. What the heck???????

 

[Quail Keeper]

Give it a few more tries. If this doesn't work, try putting food coloring and dish soap in the eggs. The food coloring will dye the feathers around the beak so you can separate that chicken. You can try to separate it and begin getting the eggs as soon as they are layed if you can and this should definately stop the egg eating. Hope this helps!