Egg Thieves

[ManWithChicks]

Any idea what would steal eggs in the middle of the day?

Ive lost a few fake eggs over the last few months, I usualy just assume the chickens knocked it out of nesting box and it got lost in bedding somehow.

But I just cleaned out the henhouse and at around 10 am I collected eggs,I placed the fake egg back in nesting box, otherwise I have a few chickens that will just lay anywhere else. Later at around 4pm I checked again and the fake egg was gone, I opened the hen house which is only 4 x 4 and the egg had just vanished, this was the 3rd or 4th fake egg Ive lost, and Im 100% sure they arent just disappearing.

The hen house is in a run, and the run is usualy open during the day. I just dont know what type of critter Im trying to find and stop. Any ideas?

 

[Rldad1]

Possible rat snake. They can swallow a lot of eggs in record time. Not sure about fake egg though. I had one go into a bird nest I was watching and before I could get it out it had swallowed 5 wren eggs.

 

[Starburst]

Hi! Some animals that may be stealing the eggs could be Ravens, Crows, Squirrels, Rats, Snakes...what animals do you have in your area? Like, do you have snakes? Because some areas don’t as do some places don’t have ravens. That will help quite a bit to help figure out what it is

 

[ManWithChicks]

Possible rat snake. They can swallow a lot of eggs in record time. Not sure about fake egg though. I had one go into a bird nest I was watching and before I could get it out it had swallowed 5 wren eggs.

I never thought about snakes! WE dont have rat snakes I dont think, but we have plenty of other species like gopher snakes, rattle snakes, king snakes, coachwhip, garter.
I havent seen any on my property that I would consider egg eaters, but they are hard to spot! Ill need to keep an eye out.

Hi! Some animals that may be stealing the eggs could be Ravens, Crows, Squirrels, Rats, Snakes...what animals do you have in your area? Like, do you have snakes? Because some areas don’t as do some places don’t have ravens. That will help quite a bit to help figure out what it is

Ravens, crows, ground squirrels, rats and snakes are all things ive seen. But now that you mention it, about 3 weeks ago I walked out and a raven(I think) was "trapped" in the run,I think I startled it, so it just started flying around and crashing into the chicken wire, eventually it pushed its way out the top through a seam that it had no right squeezing through, lol. But maybe it is a regular visitor and checks the boxes regularly.

I guess the only way to know for sure is to get a camera of some sort. But now that ive been missing fake eggs, it makes me wonder if my average of 1 to 3 eggs a day(Ffor 5 hens) is due to a thief.

 

[aart]

I guess the only way to know for sure is to get a camera of some sort. But now that ive been missing fake eggs, it makes me wonder if my average of 1 to 3 eggs a day(Ffor 5 hens) is due to a thief.

Yeppers!