disapearing egg and other egg issues!

[TH3G00DL1F3]

hi all
I am having a difficult time with my chooks!
I am new this year to poultry and i currently have :
2 geese
3 ducks
3 bantams
4 hybrids
1 swedish appenzeller

My hybrids and appenzeller are in one run and my bantams another
the hybrids lay daily most of the time (although only 3 types of egg, pretty sure my black rock doesnt lay as i am unsure of her age, thinks she pretty old)
the appenzeller doesnt lay but then i dont have a clue if its a he or she atm!
the bantams are my isue currently
i have one flufy little thing (pekin?) one bantam rhode island and my cockbird is a grey purebred something lol
one of the bantams lays but only just started so i am hoping the other will too as both were apprently in full lay last year.
She always lays in the run rather than the house.

here comes the issue

I put her fertile egg in the hybrids nest box as one is showing signs of broodiness
next day its gone
not in sight at all

today i see shes laid one in the run again i put egg in the hybrids run
next day its moved to the opposite nest box but i did read they can move them around.
theres another egg in the bantams run but i am in a rush so figure ill wait until i get back to move it, i was gone an hour
get back and its gone
vanished
not a sign of it
and also no sign of any intruders

my conclusion, either my chickens are messing with me for fun because they are bored or there is a greater evil at work!

any help or advice at all? very confused!

 

[mysilkiebrood]

i have the same problem. i have a mixed flock but about 4 silkies which of course love to hatch anything. my one silkie was sitting on variuos eggs about 8, she should be hatching around mar 22. the past 2 weeks when i have checked on her, she has lost an egg. no shells or signs of a dead chick. today she has only three left....2 eggs were americauna eggs, so not wanting to lose them i removed all 3 eggs and put them in my incubator. any thought on the missing eggs????

 

[sheaviance1]

Could it be a snake?

 

[Boilerman]

Quote:
Sounds like it to me.

 

[write2caroline]

Yes, I would imagine something is eating your eggs and I bet a snake has found a nice meal or two. My neighbor found a 5 foot rat snake in her nest box stuck from being so full of eggs it could not get out the way it came in

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwww is right!

Caroline

 

[Lisa202]

I had a similar problem last week. I was thinking that I had an egg thief in the human form

.


I know that chickens eat the shell and all, but there wasn't even any sign of broken yoke. Not on any pine shavings or anywhere. How could a chicken break an egg so neatly?


I did think of a snake, but then I thought that if the snake got in through a crack, then would it be able to get back out of that crack with an egg in it before another chicken ate it? I know the egg would eventually get crushed inside the snake, but before it does, it makes the snake bigger (in that section of it's body) and less likely to get out as easily as it came in. And then I thought... don't snakes take a while to digest the things they eat causing them not to have to eat as frequently?

 

[Lollipop]

I would suspect a snake also. You almost have to catch them in the act to stop them. You can feed them golf balls, lol, just a suggestion.

To determine if a hen is laying, feel the bones UNDER the vent, they`re like pelvic bones. On a big hen, a layer should have room between the bones for 3 fingertips. If only room for one fingertip, or aa tight two, she is not laying. When checking a bantam, or anything in between, use your imagination when adjusting for the size egg they lay.

Good luck ........Pop