my new chickens seem to be eating eggs??!

[navyeye]

So, I got 4 hybrid chicks from the local farm; Godzilla, Hennifer, Penfold & Betsy.

The are about 4 months old now and we've had them 4 weeks. We feed them layers pellets and grain before bed. They free range a lot but also have a grit dispenser thing. They have a run, with a chicken coop with lots of bars to perch on and there are 2 nesting boxes. At the farm they were all in a shed.

So I don't know anything about chickens and I'm just after some advice. I found what looks like egg shell in their run today, they had eaten most of it! The bits I removed where quite papery but I'm sure it was egg shell - can they eat their own eggs?

Also they poo in their nesting box! Is this normal? I suppose they don't know what it's for? Is there a way to teach them?

Thanks for any advice :)

Mine poo in the nesting box too, apparently it is because the perches need to be higher than the box but as I can't change my coop now I'm just putting up with it.

I'm getting the same thing with the eggs too atm, mine have always been excellent layers but just lately I'm getting no eggs or just finding the remains with a thin bit of shell and a sticky patch. I can't understand it, they have layers pellets, plenty of grit and if they have any cooked veg peelings I add layers mash and a mineral supplement. They also have fresh greens every day, I'm not sure what else I can do.

Sorry I'm not being much help with advice but at least you know you are not alone! Hopefully someone clever will come and help us both out .

Poo in the nesting box is fairly normal, if annoying - it's just because they often tend to sleep in it. You can put a football or an upside-down flowerpot in there overnight to stop them sleeping in it, but you'll need to take it out before they lay the next morning.

Egg-eating is a bad habit they can get into and is apparently quite hard to get them out of. Take away eggs as soon as they're laid and try putting golf-balls or china eggs in there instead, so they get fed up with trying to peck them.