# Egg with a peck hole in it?



## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

I have a couple of hens that just started laying and the eggs have really nice shells not thin and weak either. They are tough shells; however, today my mom went out to get any eggs and there was a hole in one of them? Could my Roosters have done that. I have a coupe of young Roosters with my hens and they are constantly chasing them around but sleeps with them at nights one chases and pecks at the other one from time to time so I assumed it was the more aggressive rooster but wasn't sure who or what would have caused the hole in it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I would look to a hen being the culprit, they are more prone to crack eggs. 

Sounds like your crew is young, there may be some learning going on and it might not happen again.

You might have to put those boys up until they have matured some. They can do injury to the girls if they are unrelentingly aggravating them. And if you only have two hens you most definitely have one too many roosters.


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

robin416 said:


> I would look to a hen being the culprit, they are more prone to crack eggs.
> 
> Sounds like your crew is young, there may be some learning going on and it might not happen again.
> 
> You might have to put those boys up until they have matured some. They can do injury to the girls if they are unrelentingly aggravating them. And if you only have two hens you most definitely have one too many roosters.


Thank you so much for
Responding. I have 2 definite Roosters with 5 hens that are about 18 weeks old. 5 silkies not sure if female or male but I believe they are about 12 weeks. 1 buff orphington and 1 Easter Egger. They are in a 20 x 12 hours stall with nesting boxes and approz. 16 x 30' run in. So I don't believe space is the issue. I just think the rooster are really young and most constantly aggravating the girls


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's what I was saying. Young roosters, not enough girls can lead to girls getting hurt. The boys need to learn manners. Which means they might have to be put in a pen all their own until the grow up more. 

Years ago I had a young Silkie rooster. He was beautiful, would make beautiful babies. The problem with him was that he was too aggressive with any of the girls I put in with him. He terrified them. So, he was penned by himself for a while. I tried once again to introduce him and he did the same thing again.

That's when I put this one hen in with him. This girl had a strong personality and when he tried his over aggressive stunt with her she pounded him into the dirt. Then she went about doing what she was doing before he rudely interrupted her. A few minutes later he tried the same thing, she pounded him until he hid in a corner. 

After a few days of learning manners from her I was able to put other less strong girls in with him.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I suspect it's a hen that pecked the hole in the egg as well. The roosters are too busy going after the hens, no time to peck eggs.
I recommend that you collect eggs sooner rather than later, several times a day. If you dont, egg pecking could lead to egg eaters eventually and then you'll have big problems.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

If a hen pecked it,it would have been eaten.Sometimes the get cracked during laying or they get stepped on and a toe nail puncture.


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

Nm156 said:


> If a hen pecked it,it would have been eaten.Sometimes the get cracked during laying or they get stepped on and a toe nail puncture.


That's what my mom guessed as well. Our shells are pretty tough so I just couldn't have imagined that being a possibility.
Thanks for all the comments. My little boy loves collecting the eggs so maybe we just didn't collect soon enough and someone may have started to peck on it?? I had two this morning and they were perfectly fine so I'm going to take all this feedback and make sure I follow all steps to try and prevent it.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Nm156 said:


> If a hen pecked it,it would have been eaten.Sometimes the get cracked during laying or they get stepped on and a toe nail puncture.


That's been my experience. My hens don't peck the eggs to eat them, but if one gets stepped on a broken, they will eat it.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Chicken Forum mobile app


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

dawg53 said:


> I suspect it's a hen that pecked the hole in the egg as well. The roosters are too busy going after the hens, no time to peck eggs.
> I recommend that you collect eggs sooner rather than later, several times a day. If you dont, egg pecking could lead to egg eaters eventually and then you'll have big problems.


Sorry I posted my reply into another comment. Im wondering if that could have been the case as well.
My little guy loves collecting eggs but he just started in kindergarten and was gone all day so probably didn't check until around 5 that evening. I check on everyone, open the barn and their run in areas at 6:30 every morning and I didn't see any at that time. So they don't get checked until my little guy gets home from school. I will have the family start checking sooner in the day. Thanks for your comments.


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