Egg eating? (Long post-sorry)

[peeejaay]

Hi All,
For the last year I have had two hens who have laid their socks off. One is ex-batt (so now approaching third year) one was bought as POL last year and I have now just added two pol Black Rocks. It appears from their combs that both original hens are still laying, however there is only ever one egg in the nest each day. I now suspect that eggs are being eaten but cannot decide who the culprit might be. I don't understand why only one egg is being taken and not two. I've also been wondering if one of the pullets is starting to lay and is laying soft-shelled eggs which are being eaten but again this doesn't explain why there is always only one egg in the nest. I waited yesterday morning for the last years pol to lay-she went into the nest box at 7.15am and I had to leave for work at 7.45 so checked then and she still hadn't laid after half an hour-is this normal? I remember hens we had when I was kid running into the nests and laying within a couple of minutes. I think I'm going to split up the hens into olds and pol to see if it stops and if there is any eaten egg in with the young ones. There is never any shell left so would this point to soft shell or just that they've eaten all the shell? I'm very confused. BTW, the new ones were added just over a week ago and last years pol (boss bird) has been beating them a fair bit but no blood and seems to be settling down now. Could the stress of the new introductions have caused older hens to start egg eating? I house them in an Omlet Cube so cannot darken the nest box or have roll-away nests. Any advice (very) gratefully received.
PJ
I should add that there is yolk staining and considerable wetness from the white soaked into the nesting material so there is definetly eggs being broken.

[frias]

I would hazard a guess that the ex-batt is laying softies. My lot will eat a softie but don't touch good eggs.
All my girls have lovely red combs but 3 don't lay any more so I think once the combs become red they stay that way. Well in my lot anyway.
My Welsummer always takes 2 hours to lay an egg although some do just nip in and do it very quickly.

[Gro-Bag]

I would agree - if they are being eaten it must be softies, or else there would be shell left, and as you say, it doesn't make sense for one to be left if another hardshelled one was getting eaten. Mine have eaten the occasional softie but never a hard egg, unless they've laid somewhere odd and it has fallen - and then there was shell left afterwards.

Or maybe the stress of changes in the flock might be putting one of them off a bit? it might all get back to normal in a week or two as they settle in with each other.

Mine sometimes take a while to lay - and tend to lay late in the morning or early afternoon.