Sherlock and the Egg Mystery

[DreamertK]

So I had been noticing for the past month that when I went in to collect eggs, they were broken with a horrible mess made in the box. I thought at the time, maybe they needed more calcium for stronger eggs, so I gave them more calcium treats and put more fluff in their boxes. Then slowly I wasn't finding any eggs in their boxes. I tried to do some math in my head to estimate how old these ladies were since I bought them. Maybe it's been 2 years and they're not laying anymore?? The only eggs I found were broken, and that wasn't even every day anymore. Eventually I thought maybe they were traumatized laying in the boxes and constantly breaking the eggs, so they must have been laying somewhere else. Well I've got them in a large fenced area of my yard which doesn't have very many hiding places for eggs (although one time I found a chicken that had about 20 eggs in the elbow of a tree). Nothing! So weeks went on like this, I finally found some eggs in the box the other day after giving them some eggshells the day prior. Finally! Maybe something is working!

So yesterday I plucked a nice ear of corn off the stem and started eating it right there. I usually give my chickens the remains of food from my yard (mostly strawberry stems). I threw the corn remains over the fence and the chickens pecked at it. I walked back to where I was tending in my garden when I saw my cats staring with such intensity behind me. Thats when I saw it - a small hawk perched on the fence and watched the chickens peck at the corn. Don't hawks usually eat chickens?? It just stared at the chickens and the corn the whole time. Today I saw it again the same time in the morning while applying some fertilizer. I went back in my house and got my camera, I identified it as a young Coopers Hawk. But as I was applying the fertilizer - all of the pieces fell together.

tl;dr: The hawk was stealing my chicken eggs.

So here's the dealio: I have a 8x4' coop with a large door that I open in the morning and always shut at night. The chickens get to run around free in a large fenced area eating weeds and bugs from my garden during the day. It would be difficult/impossible to cover the top of the fenced area because of trees. I really don't like shutting my chickens in the coop during the day, but if I do that for a certain amount of time - will the hawk pass? I hear other deterrents are negligible at best.

I really don't want the hawk to grow up and start going after my chickens/cats....

 

[Sara Ranch]

Hugs. Better that the eggs were lost than the chickens at this point.

I have hawks, owls, black vultures, big blue jays, eagles, and lots of other flying predators here.

I have hiding places in each of the pastures (planting barrels, plants, etc) and I have old sheets and scraps of fabric attached to things that flap in the wind. I try to rearrange things every month just to make things a little different. I also check on the animals often and change up the order of how I check on them. (Regarding eggs, I do my best to collect/check every hour when I am home.)

It's worked well. Maybe something similar would work for you?

What could you do to make the fence & post less comfortable to sit on?

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

With trees around the area fishing line strung so it crisscrosses over the run tends to deter hawks since if they hit the line it damages their wings. Should you decide to do this trick get 60 to 80 lb. test colored line (so you will see it) and string it with around a foot between lines, when your done you will have 1 foot squares and the hawks and owls will most likely go away for good. Hides, like Sara mentions are good to have too.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Did you see the hawk stealing the eggs? That would be a new first for my understanding. If it was the egg thief, you better do something other than photograph it picking it's toes.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

I agree with happyfrenchman, hawks aren't egg stealers they are chicken eaters. Rats and Snakes are the usual egg stealers.

 

[cmom]

If you have a game camera, put it up and you will get the picture. Cooper's Hawks usually are attracted to bird feeders because their favorite food is birds that visit the feeders.

 

[cmom]

Since you have found broken eggs, maybe you have an egg eater.