[Mrs Tweedy]

I have a friend with 4 ex bats, who insist on laying their eggs in the same place as the previous one, every day, and they keep breaking the eggs. They have one large nesting box, could this be the problem, would it help to divide it into two? 

[Vember]

Hi Mrs Tweedy

Welcome to the Hen House

Do you know if they are being broken due to the hens eating them or by them standing on them?

Make sure they have plenty of oyster shell down which will increase calcium levels sometimes it's useful to add Limestone powder/flour to their feed to give them an extra boost (you can get it from farm supply shops its for foals )

If they get treats as well as layers pellets then try cutting out the treats for a while so they get what is needed from the pellets


Sarah

[AmandaH]

Hey Mrs T.  I have four ex-batts and one large nesting box as well but none of my eggs get broken.  They seem to take turns in the box - it's all very polite and civilised.  Not sure if it'll last though  

When I got them, I did put a couple of rubber chicken eggs in the box as my understanding was that battery chooks need to be shown where to lay.  Don't know if that helped but they seem to have got the hang of it.

I wonder about the shell too as my girls do take it it turns to lay in the box and, when they're all done and out, I collect the two or three eggs a day that I get - so they must be trampling all over each other's eggs and not breaking them...