I have a flock of 2 leghorns, 2 SL wyndotes, 2 GL wyndottes, and 2 silkies. My silkies are each brooding on several eggs at this time. Last week I found a broken and half eaten egg in one of my nesting boxes. Than this morning one of my silkies nests had been badly disturbed, an egg eaten, and my silkie was very distressed! It has to be a hen, as my house & coop is locked tight all night, and is very predator proof. So How do I figure out who the cuprit is? I know it isn't the leghorns as I checked thier really clean feathers and no sign of egg anywhere. Plus they tend to leave my silkies alone. My 2 SLW's do attack the silkies often. I need to figure this out fast so I can cull the culprit. Any suggestions short of slaughtering all of them?
It could be rats, or it could be you have an egg eater. Watch and see who is looking into the nest boxes. This is a chore for small children, put them on the look out. Once you know for sure who the culprit is, you can deal with the problem. When we had large flocks, egg eaters just self nominated themselves as Sunday dinner. However, with only eight or nine birds, we cannot solve the problem that way. Each hen is precious. Make sure the nest is comfortable for the hen to lay in, but not so easy to get into to eat eggs. Put light bulbs, golf balls, old door knobs in the nest. After they peck them a few times and get nothing out of it, they will get frustrated and give up. Also, make sure your hens get lots of greens to eat. Good Luck, Rufus
Good luck, I have one egg eater in my flock of 80+ birds, I can't catch her at it! driving me mad.......
With only a few hens, you might try isolating one bird at a time to see when the eating stops. Or isolate a hen with an egg and see what happens. Don't totally discount rats. I'd set a trap, preferably live trap, and see what happens. Good luck!!
Thanks to all of you for the great ideas. I don't have any children young enough to watch who the egg eater is, so I will try to isolate each of them for a few days at a time. I will also try some rat traps. Again thanks, you guys are all so great! Lil
