All of the sudden, zero eggs in a pen of 5 hens.

[QChickieMama]

There's no sign of anyone being broody. No sign of eating their eggs. Just suddenly no eggs.

Wondering about snakes or mice taking their eggs.... I know there are mice around.

Has this happened to you?

 

[Gigachad poultry]

There's no sign of anyone being broody. No sign of eating their eggs. Just suddenly no eggs.

Wondering about snakes or mice taking their eggs.... I know there are mice around.

Has this happened to you?

I had a friend who had a rat snake named Dave that would eat all the mice in his feed room so he never killed it and one day it decided to eat all the eggs! When he got a broody hen he had to keep her in a snake proof crate to keep him from eating get eggs and them it ate a chick so he had a BBQ!

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I had a friend who had a rat snake named Dave that would eat all the mice in his feed room so he never killed it and one day it decided to eat all the eggs! When he got a broody hen he had to keep her in a snake proof crate to keep him from eating get eggs and them it ate a chick so he had a BBQ!

Also yes Dave was invited as a main guest!

 

[Ocho 8 Farm]

Where there’s chickens and feed, there’s mice. Where’s there’s mice there’s snakes.
I bet a snake is getting them

 

[aart]

There's no sign of anyone being broody. No sign of eating their eggs. Just suddenly no eggs.

Wondering about snakes or mice taking their eggs.... I know there are mice around.

Has this happened to you?

Are they free range?
Do they normally lay in nests in the coop?
Can snakes get into the nests?

How old are they, in months?

 

[QChickieMama]

I've seen a rat snake earlier in the season about 50 yards from their coop. Left it alone to deal with copperheads & mice. I have mouse traps set not far away and I get one or two a week.

Yes, they free range most days for 3 hours in late afternoon. Most of these hens are 3-5 years old. That's 60 months. ;-)

I've never seen them lay outside of the coop. Used to getting at least 3 eggs/day from these girls, and the shells are plenty hard (unlike another coop of mine) so I super miss these eggs.

Their coop is large hardware cloth fencing so yes, snakes could come & go.

 

[aart]

Most of these hens are 3-5 years old.

If you live in the northern hemisphere it's likely they have stopped laying to get ready to molt.

 

[K0k0shka]

Mine stopped laying and started molting super early this year, earlier than in previous years. Maybe it was the heat, though last summer was hotter and drier than this summer and they didn't start so early. So maybe it's that.

 

[picklestheduck]

I had a crow take our eggs, no sign of mess, nothing. They even took some that were under a broody and about to hatch we put a net over the run and within hours the crow was above the net mad

 

[QChickieMama]

If you live in the northern hemisphere it's likely they have stopped laying to get ready to molt.

I'm in NC. It's still summer here. But I'll watch for molting before I tear their pen apart looking for signs of snake.