New pullets just started laying

The post below prompted me to ask this "chicken" question. My new pullets (raised from baby chicks) are starting to lay. I"m having a problem with eggs being broken in the nest boxes. It appears the chickens are pecking them and breaking them. I am feeding a mixed ration prepared by the local feed mill that contains (according to them) all the necessary ingredients. I do know it contains poulry supplement along with corn and oyster shell. The hens have access to an outside run during the day, along with free-choice feed and water 24 hours a day. They are penned up at night. I fed them some hamburger meat thinking perhaps it could be a problem similar to cannibalism in hogs. I also gave them a tub of limestone gravel to peck and scratch in. What is my problem with these pullets?

How often are you gathering the eggs? Make sure the feed has plenty of protein, pullets are still growing and laying eggs, if they are eating the yolks they crave protein eating the shell they crave calcium and just breaking the eggs it is usually one or more bored chicken, put a few golf balls in the nests and see who has a sore beak.

I gather the eggs once a day. They appear to just be breaking the eggs as none have been "totally" busted up and nothing appears to have been eaten.

ok,ok ,now get ready for this,when I was a kid we raised chickens and encountered this problem ,along with pecking each other,the vet suggested getting some large bones from the butcher and throwing into the coop ,chickens busied themselves with pecking the bones and the problems were eliminated...we were working in the coop one day and a salesman came looking for us and saw the bones and asked about them,we explained that they were all that was left of the last salesman,and being from the city he didn't know wether to believe us or not

randall.......I don't care what the feed store poultry ration list sez, yer young pullets need MORE calcium in the form of cracked, ground oyster shells, free choice. Limestone is NOT edible calcium. .......Dell

I free choice oyster shell, feed a good ground feed with plenty of protien, tried the golf balls, and even trimmed the beaks. No luck they still break and eat the eggs. If I gather eggs two three time a day I'll get about 18 to 24 out of 30 hens, if I gather just once a day maybe a dozen. I think some birds just get a taste for eggs and there ain't much you can do about it.

You need to have a feeder set up with oyster shells in it and only that and or egg shell that has been baked at 350 in the oven to kill off bacteria. All the egg shells we have from eating eggs go right back to the chicken after being baked for 10 minutes at 350. I have very little problem with broken eggs. Also having some sort of nest box stuff helps like straw or pin shavings etc

If you can figure out which hens are eating eggs (if that is really happening) then you need to cull them (stew pot time). But my guess is they are not getting enough oyster shell in the diet. Your feed supplier should be able to supply oyster shell in 20+ pound size bag. It's pricey in small quanities, but not bad when in a larger bag. The bone idea I saw below also helps for pecking, and I loved the part about telling the salesman the bone was from the last salesman, too funny.
Also, some of the hens will lay the egg while standing up (actually quite a few will) and if they are standing over a clutch of eggs that were already in that nest, that tends to break one or more. Any way you can stay out there and watch, or maybe install a camera? You may learn what the problem is.
Only other thing, not sure what you have for bedding in the nesting boxes. I use fresh hay and keep it pretty full and fluffed up. Makes for a soft bed. They will wallow it out to their liking and if I can see the bottom of the box I will add more for a soft landing! I tried newspaper, didn't work. Tried wood chips, also didn't work. Grass clipping work pretty good, but hay works best for me as the stems are long and tend to lock together better keeping it in the box longer. They will also eat the hay by the way. Come to think of it, they will eat almost anything. Got an extra watermellon? Cut it in half and watch it vanish in minutes. I call them piranah with wings when it comes to veggies!

We had that problem once, it turned out it was just one chicken breaking all the eggs and that one ended up in the pot as a warning to all the others. Kind of like how a dog will do it all the time once they figure out how to do it.

throw a couple styrofoam cups in the pen and put a couple table spoons of viniger in their gallon of water-- no picking and immediate response good luck-- been there done that!!