Golf balls. It has something to do with pecking and not getting rewarded.
With one hen, I spent days narrowing down a time frame that an egg got broken. I also checked beaks often to find some yolk. Sure enough, one hen came in to "inspect" the nest, and I snuck up behind her and scared the $hit out of her. Never did it again.
Now, I have 5 layers in the main flock and no eggs for a few months now. I've heard of slowing down, but none? I have checked every nook and cranny in the yard.
Yes. ^this. My girls will try to eat any and everything, it's just what foragers do I actually bought porcelain eggs made specifically to trick chickens into thinking eggs aren't edible. I put them in their nesting boxes and other areas of the coop before their feathers were even in and peck them they did, until they learned it was futile. Since they've started laying, I have never had them peck at the real eggs.
Should one break however, I suspect all bets would be off!
Haven't had any more issues since I first posted. We are getting 5 a day out of our 5 girls. I would have thought laying would have slowed down by now? Daylight hours have decrease??
My hubs has had to buy eggs. None laid here. I think that young layers lay for longer seasons and those egg laying seasons get shorter and shorter as they age.
Gah! I just read an article about abnormal eggs and this was a new one for me: the shell-less egg! Literally a membrane filled just like any other egg but with no outer protection.
The chapter this happens fairly often when hens are just starting to lay and when it does, it's rare to even find it because the chickens usually get to it and consume it first. I know my girls want to test EVERYTHING with a peck in hopes it's edible... So I have no doubt in my coop, that's exactly how it would play out. Are your hens young and just starting to lay? If so, a shell-less is actually pretty ?
The good news is, it's nothing to worry about, a pullets body is just still figuring it out. If an older hen turns out a shell-less, it can mean she didn't have enough calcium in her system at the time, which obviously is an easy fix!
SS that may have been what happened back when they first started laying in August. Hubby noticed them fighting over a membrane. Hasn’t happened since then. Mine are 9mos old.
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