Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[auntielizzie]

I did try to find previous posts about this subject, but it was taking too long to go through all the pages and pages, so sorry if this is old ground, but my girls seem to have started pecking their eggs (or should I say "their egg" ).

 

Betty is laying every single day (I don't remember the last time she had a day off). Bessie is "too posh to push" and lays when she feels like it

 

Today and yesterday I have come back from work to find "the egg" has left the nest box and is lying on the coop floor. Not only that, but the egg is cracked; not broken right through and eaten, but definitely pecked and bits of shell missing

 

Quite often Betty lays her egg early enough in the morning (always in the nest box) for me to remove it before I go out to work, but not so the last couple of days. I don't think the eggs are being laid outside the nest box - I think one or both of them are pushing (or pecking) them out.

 

Why are they (is she) doing this all of a sudden Could they be bored? I can't think of any other reason - they can't be hungry, they get plenty of grit and oyster shell and they have greens at least every other day. I leave them in the run all day while at work because I don't want them to get foxed. Also, I wouldn't like to leave them to FR while I wasn't around as they can't be trusted not to escape

 

Any ideas anyone Do I need to get them some toys