Young chickens breaking older chickens eggs.

[Snowkap]

We wanted to add a few new chickens. We only had 3 hens and only wanted around a dozen. We went and bought 10 chicks (5 Delaware and 5 Americana's). We were raising chicks in a building until they got large enough to be put with adults. We had 3 adult hens. I can't quite remember how old they were when we put them together. Approximately 2 1/2 to 3 months. They are getting along well now but we don't have much egg production from older hens. It has been over 100 degrees here and up to 115 degrees so I know it will be down. We provide frozen bottles during the day time which helps birds a lot.

We were getting 1 egg every 2 or 3 days. Now I have noticed someone is breaking the egg we were getting. I've only experienced an occasional situation like this but this is definitely deliberate. I figure it is one or more of the babies. Are we going to have an on going issue and is there anything that can be done to correct this. They lay their eggs in nesting box's and they sit there until they are checked for which is twice a day. Babies are 4 months old but none have started laying yet.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's common for youngsters to poke at eggs. They are inquisitive. If there happens to be a weak shelled egg in the nest, they get rewarded for their "poking". Then it can become a habit. I recommend doing what you can do to beef up the shell quality of your layers so that the youngsters don't get that "reward". It's also helpful to give them as much diversion as possible: free range if you can, if not, put deep litter into your run, and toss a bit of scratch or other goodies out for them to hunt for. Birds need a job to do. It keeps them out of trouble. That is why deep litter is such a blessing. It calls beneficial insects and worms into the run, and the birds even derive some nutrient from the bacteria and fungi that populate the DL.

 

[Snowkap]

We put straw in our nesting box's and have found they will hide eggs in that some, but they haven't in a while. At night they are in a 6' square dog run with a nesting box which is up off the ground. They have free access in and out of nesting box when they want but we keep the pen closed until noon to try and discourage other birds coming in to eat their food. At noon I open up cage so they have a large area to roam and give them frozen soda bottles they can keep cool with during our horrible dessert heat. They have several areas they like to scratch around. There is a lot of hay in the run and we put in fresh pebled dirt in run. I'm not sure what you are refering to as litter. Are you talking of wood shavings? Thank you for your response. Snowkap