Aussie Advice Please - regarding kookaburra (possible taking my eggs)

Hi Aussies

I have a kookaburra that has decided to hang around, i always see it near the chook shed, i only clicked today that my lack of eggs could be because of him/her, i have not had any eggs in a week..

I also have chicks due to hatch tomorrow, so i need to deter him asap.. thinking netting the whole yard, but its a big job and i wont get to it til the weekend, any other ideas??

Never had a problem with the Kookies, are you sure you don't have crows or magpies doing it? They're more commonly the culprits.

If in doubt, locking your hens up for 48 hours will tell you if they're actually laying or not.

Depending on whether they free range or not they may just be laying elsewhere, sometimes all it takes is one hen to lay the first egg and the rest all join in.

Your legal options in dealing with the Kookaburra are limited of course.

Best wishes.

ha ha, yeah i was not planning on harming him/her, i just was thinking maybe curry egg??
i am putting a roof over the yard so that shoudl stop him/her if it is him, however i did find a next of 12 eggs today so maybe he is just hanging aorund the hen house for fun

I've not heard of it before either. If you want to check if something is taking them or if they aren't laying just put an egg out of your fridge in the nest and see if its still there 24 hours later.

I am not an Aussie but, I am curious to know what a kookaburra is like? Have you tried posting on "Australia, six states and one funny little Island."

drumstick diva said:

I am not an Aussie but, I am curious to know what a kookaburra is like? Have you tried posting on "Australia, six states and one funny little Island."

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What do you mean, what a kookaburra is like? Do you mean in behavior or habits or lifecycle or physical appearance?

I would guess you know it's a giant Kingfisher. They eat a huge amount of snakes and rodents, in suburban areas they'll fly straight through flames to steal meat from your barbecue or even straight out of your tongs, hands, plates... They're intelligent and pretty fearless. I did have one eye off my chicks once, but the hen warned it off and it never tried anything, but some people have had the Kookies eat their chicks.

Unfortunately that thread you mentioned is rather full of a few friends, they use it like a direct messaging service lol, not much room for practical queries there. It's actually hard to get a word in edgewise, never mind find useful info. (I'm sure there is some useful info in there, just that I got tired of wading through the friends-group type posts to try to find poultry related posts, and gave up.)

Anyway, best wishes.

Mixed Pen said:

ha ha, yeah i was not planning on harming him/her, i just was thinking maybe curry egg??
i am putting a roof over the yard so that shoudl stop him/her if it is him, however i did find a next of 12 eggs today so maybe he is just hanging aorund the hen house for fun

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Sounds like you've found your problem then.

I would think he was probably watching for rodents or snakes, quite probably he's a handy item to have around your coops.

A cover is always best though. I've currently got hawks and Wedgetails suddenly choosing to sit on fenceposts near the coop and run, since it doesn't have a top this is a bit of a concern. They're casing the joint.

Best wishes.