Egg-Sucking Dog Caught In The Act! Grrrr!

[Lora C]

I am SO Mad! I just caught my dog inside my coop eating the eggs!! We only just starting getting eggs about two weeks ago and now have 4 hens laying so far. I noticed that the past few days we were only getting 1 or 2 eggs, but i wasn't surprised since they were just getting started. Yesterday, i checked to coop before going to pick my son up from school - there were two lovely blue EE eggs in there, and i decided to leave them so my son could collect them when we got home. BTW, the chickens and the dog (an 11 yr old black lab) are allowed to free-range during the day. When we got back home and checked to coop, the eggs were gone! The dog was right on our heels and sniffing around in the nesting boxes for more so i knew she was the culprit! So today i decided that closing the main door and only leaving the small pop-door open would keep the dog out - Surely a 60 lb old dog wouldn't be able to climb in that little opening! Well, unfortunately i was wrong. I caught her in the act! She KNEW she was in trouble and ran back to the house with her tail between her legs. I hate to have to tie her up during the day because she's always been able to roam free, and i want the chickens to be able to free range too....


anyone else ever have this trouble?

 

[Karrie13]

I have an egg stealing lab too.... and her accomplice my rottie. I do have a fenced in run and keep the "people" door closed to keep the dogs out of the coop. But if you set an egg down and turn your back on it, the egg disappears! All you see is either a yellow or a black and tan backside running away. Mine have even tried taking them out of my hands when I am carrying one or two back to the house.

I am not sure what you can do to discourage this behavior, I just scold them and they just look at me with grins on their faces and say "yeah right mom".

 

[flakey chick]

Booby trap a few eggs. Is there something your dogs can't stand like pepper sauce? I would blow out a few eggs and fill them with something your dog would regret. (For chickens, try mustard). They might get wise and learn to spot the difference, but if you get them early enough, it just might work.

 

[Kittymomma]

My lab mix will steal eggs too. I just have the coop fixed up so the chickens can get in, but not the dog. She still gets a few here and there because I have a few birds that lay in the barn or bushes and sometimes she gets there before I do.

I've heard of people partially blowing out eggs, adding hot sauce, then sealing it up with wax. Supposedly the dog will then decide eggs are bad.

I haven't worried too much about it since mine can't get into the nesting boxes. She does a good job running the coyotes etc. off during the daytime so I don't worry about losing a stray egg here and there, it's better than losing a hen.

 

[genabeana]

I love the hot sauce eggs! too funny! I'd love to be there when the dog was munching on that!

 

[Lora C]

Oh I LOVE IT! Im going to try blowing out a couple eggs tomorrow and putting in some hot sauce. She deserves it - the little sneak! See what she thinks of that! I hope that solves the problem.

 

[redhen]

I would try the bitter spray stuff inside an egg ....

 

[eekgads]

Huh, that's an awesome idea (booby-trapping the blown eggs)!

I don't have a retriever/bird-dog so I don't have this problem...yet. (Knock wood!)

 

[thecochincoop]

Quote:
used that on my dog since he likes to lick his feet but he thinks it's tasty

they don't like cayenne pepper though

 

[Adychicks]

My sister did the hot sauce in the egg thing when her hens were eating their own eggs. It worked and we joked that she was seasoning her chickens from the inside out.