4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Chuckov]

I sense this not may be easy to fix.....

 

For a couple of weeks now our egg yield has been cut in half (we only have 2 hens so it's a pretty drastic drop!). Judging by the colour of the eggs weare getting, we suspected initially that it was our year old Gingernut who had stopped laying.

 

So we checked all the usual things....no sign of mites, chickens in good health, feathering up again nicely, eating and drinking well.

 

Then today, we caught both Nutmeg and Ginger tucking into Ginger's freshly laid egg . scoffing the lot including the shell. Which explains why we thought she'd stopped laying - as they are not leaving any evidence!!

 

Bit puzzled as to how this started - they both have a pot of grit in their run (which is going down), as well as full layers pellets diet and daily forages round the garden, so there is no reason to believe it's a calcium deficiency is there? The only thing I can think of is that Ginger's lay time is late on in the day (mid afternoon) and hence she's started dropping eggs in the run as she's normally out and about at that time. So they're more accessible?

 

Why would they start doing this? Why would they pick on just one chicken's eggs? And any suggestions as to how I can stop them doing it? Here's hoping!

[Hen Watch]

Hi Emma,

 

Are the eggs they are eating thin shelled? (or even softies). That might explain why they are tucking into just one chicken's eggs and not the other's. Does your grit have soluable shell in it for calcium or is it grit alone?

 

One of my gingernuts went through a spell of softies after a year of laying and I got some Limestone Flour calcium suppliment which I added to the pellets and it got much better.

 

I do hope it's just a calcium thing rather than an egg eating problem. Fingers crossed for you.

[muzzie]

My monster hen Eggna started eating the eggs so I blew out the contents and filled the shells with mustard she has never touched another egg.

[stellabystarlight]

Hey great advice Muzzie, not had ths problem (and fingers crossed ) but i will keep this advice in mind.

[Chuckov]

Great tip thanks Muzzie! It's happened again today (big wet patch in the nest box)

I am not sure Stella because I think it's just wierd that they are only eating one hen's eggs and not the other - so it seems more behavioural than nutritional IYSWIM. Like a dominance thing??

 

I am going to try the mustard thing but think I need to get an actual egg out of Ginger first because if I do it with one of Nutmeg's they won't be intersted!!