Egg thief!

[southwind00]

You are lucky that eggs are all that are going missing.

I agree. I have been chasing the hens off the nests every evening and it just doubles down the fact they can't be left out at night.

 

[Sea Wolf]

Over the last week the eggs on my outside nests have been disappearing so I decided to find out who was doing it.

Doesn't make me happy as you can see my coop flyway in the background. Traps are out.

Sorry, the fox is taking what you haven't bothered to protect. Eggs out in the bushes are fair game. If you want eggs, your birds should be laying them in nests in the coop. Pen them up until they learn to do so. You are deliberately attracting the wildlife by allowing the birds to wander off and lay where they should not be. It isn't the foxes fault you don't protect your birds and their output.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Over the last week the eggs on my outside nests have been disappearing so I decided to find out who was doing it.

Doesn't make me happy as you can see my coop flyway in the background. Traps are out.

Oh no!!! Boy a good varmint to have fixated on your guineas!!!! I guess I’ll stop complaining about my black rat snakes that are back in full force…

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Sorry, the fox is taking what you haven't bothered to protect. Eggs out in the bushes are fair game. If you want eggs, your birds should be laying them in nests in the coop. Pen them up until they learn to do so. You are deliberately attracting the wildlife by allowing the birds to wander off and lay where they should not be. It isn't the foxes fault you don't protect your birds and their output.

Whew, harsh assessment! I agree though that guinea nests attract predators. Until I get my new run finished, I can’t lock our guineas up and retrain them to use the coop nests. I’ve had numerous rat snakes enter the coop through the pop door and eat eggs/kill keets anyway. For my outdoor nests that I have right now, I’m collecting all eggs (marked and newly laid) every night. I have the guineas door set to delay opening until 8:30 AM (dawn is 6:30 AM), so that gives me time to replace the marked eggs in the nest.

Just today, I heard the guineas making a ruckus and found a rat snake eating their eggs. I didn’t manage to catch the snake, so I’m setting a minnow trap full of old guinea eggs in the nest site tonight. I’ve found that I just can’t have large black rat snakes near the guineas during nesting season as they are so drawn to their nests, both in and out of the coop. If I catch it, it will get a new home.

 

[southwind00]

Sorry, the fox is taking what you haven't bothered to protect. Eggs out in the bushes are fair game. If you want eggs, your birds should be laying them in nests in the coop. Pen them up until they learn to do so. You are deliberately attracting the wildlife by allowing the birds to wander off and lay where they should not be. It isn't the foxes fault you don't protect your birds and their output.

H'mmm? Time for a lesson in Guinea Fowl 101. First of all I understand the eggs are fair game but in case you have never heard or read anything about guinea fowl, their job is to "wander off" and eat the ticks , June bugs, Japanese beetles. cluster flies and all the other insects that plague the couple acres of yard and garden I have separated from the rest of my land. I have 8 hens, two have nested in my coop and as of this writing rearing 8 keets in the coop the other six hens do what guinea fowl who free range do, build nests and lay eggs. I had identified two double nests( two guinea hens were sharing one nest) and two single nests of a guinea each. I had marked 8 eggs in each nest and after that I gathered all recently laid eggs either in the evening when I chased the guineas in or the next morning before I let them out. Knowing where the nests were made it very easy to get them in at night. And as far as “deliberately attracting wildlife”, Guineas free range, they are not parakeets or parrots and they lay where I want them to be in the bushes and edges where I and my family and pets have picked up ticks to the point of three years ago people and pets had to take the lyme disease treatments. The foxes will die and I will be tick free. Any questions?

 

[Sydney65]

I am curious, although you've both apparently located your thieves- in the chicken forum, it was said that chickens will eat their eggs. Not something I've heard before, but they scramble eggs for them and give them eggshells, so so, I was wondering if guineas would do that.

 

[R2elk]

I am curious, although you've both apparently located your thieves- in the chicken forum, it was said that chickens will eat their eggs. Not something I've heard before, but they scramble eggs for them and give them eggshells, so so, I was wondering if guineas would do that.

Egg eating chickens are not that uncommon. It usually starts with an accidentally broken egg or a soft shell egg. My chickens will quickly clean up any broken or soft shell eggs. One hen in particular will go in my live traps for the turkey eggs that I use for bait. She normally leaves chicken eggs alone.

Turkeys can also develop a taste for eggs but it is rarer than with chickens. I have not seen any evidence of my guineas eating eggs. It may have something to do with how hard their egg shells are.