Eggs Disappeared

[Mahbroshay]

I had 15 hens a 3 roosters. I’ve not lost a chicken out of this flock until this week. We let them free range all day and in the evening they coop themselves up, we count and feed them and lock them in. We have a nice coop on concrete flooring and a solid wood structure and it’s big with shuttered windows that are locked each night and hardwire cloth behind that. There are locks on the doors. My girls give me about 6-8 eggs at least a day. 9 of these hens are a little over a year old 6 of these hens are just starting to lay as they are about 6-7 months old. For the last two weeks no eggs. It seemed to happen right as the new chickens started laying. I thought it was the new layers and I had chickens started to peck their eggs, but I wouldn’t find any speck of an egg ever even being laid except once but couldn’t figure it out. I even went out and saw one of my older hens sitting on a nest of eggs laid for the day and came back a couple hours later and all were gone. I divided up my new chicks to a different coop and left the older ones in the main coop to see if it was something between the chickens. I had 3 eggs from my new chicks and still nothing from the others. I wondered if I had a snake in the big coop since there is no sign of anything else. I put golf balls in the roost and cleaned out all the straw and kept everyone locked up in case they started laying somewhere else.....nothing. They are not molting or at least it doesn’t appear to be starting and it all started all of a sudden. It would be too often for a snake to eat and too many eggs. Nothing torn up in the coop. So I started letting them free range again. Yesterday, 2 of my hens were killed. It looked like a puncture wound in ones neck and a puncture in ones back. What do I do?

 

[FrappcinoObsession]

I had 15 hens a 3 roosters. I’ve not lost a chicken out of this flock until this week. We let them free range all day and in the evening they coop themselves up, we count and feed them and lock them in. We have a nice coop on concrete flooring and a solid wood structure and it’s big with shuttered windows that are locked each night and hardwire cloth behind that. There are locks on the doors. My girls give me about 6-8 eggs at least a day. 9 of these hens are a little over a year old 6 of these hens are just starting to lay as they are about 6-7 months old. For the last two weeks no eggs. It seemed to happen right as the new chickens started laying. I thought it was the new layers and I had chickens started to peck their eggs, but I wouldn’t find any speck of an egg ever even being laid except once but couldn’t figure it out. I even went out and saw one of my older hens sitting on a nest of eggs laid for the day and came back a couple hours later and all were gone. I divided up my new chicks to a different coop and left the older ones in the main coop to see if it was something between the chickens. I had 3 eggs from my new chicks and still nothing from the others. I wondered if I had a snake in the big coop since there is no sign of anything else. I put golf balls in the roost and cleaned out all the straw and kept everyone locked up in case they started laying somewhere else.....nothing. They are not molting or at least it doesn’t appear to be starting and it all started all of a sudden. It would be too often for a snake to eat and too many eggs. Nothing torn up in the coop. So I started letting them free range again. Yesterday, 2 of my hens were killed. It looked like a puncture wound in ones neck and a puncture in ones back. What do I do?

Mabye you may have squirrels talking your eggs I mean their known for that or they are laying somewhere your not aware of.

 

[sloanbychoice]

Sounds like a lot going on...
While reading this, my first thought went to an issue I had. A squirrel was getting into my coop and stealing my eggs. I caught him in the act. Would never have thought.
Then came the part about the kills. Ugh. That sucks. With punctures, it could be a couple possibilities. Were there feathers scattered? Were the punctures larger like a dog maybe? Or smaller like a weasel?

Typically, sudden missing eggs is due to a thief. Are you able to set up a camera?

 

[aart]

free range all day

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Put a game camera in the coop. Look for knotholes or other possible entrances. There’s several creatures that could be doing this though it would help if you could post pictures of the injuries.