Eggs disappearing

[tommymartin]

I have a Dove Release business in Ft Lauderdale I raise white doves/ homing pigeons and recently have noticed when I check on the hens sitting on eggs an egg will be missing. Then a day or 2 later the other egg is missing. I look on the floor and all around and there isn't even a sign of the egg shell. The loft is pretty secure with small mesh wire. I thought maybe rats were doing it but I have set traps and bait and haven't seen a rat in months.
What is going on?

 

[groundpecker]

It could be one of the following: snakes, rats, egg eating birds, or even a human taking them. I would double check all the cages for even the tiniest space a varmint could get through. If you want to really see what is going on, you could buy or borrow a cheap security camera system and record what is happening to the eggs.

 

[chickenlady08]

Could it be a snake? I have had a few this summer.

 

[tommymartin]

Do black racers eat eggs?
I did see one about 3 feet long in the yard

 

[kuntrygirl]

My first thought is a snake.

 

[southerndesert]

Quote:
Yes they do....

 

[fisherchic]

All summer long my eggs were coming up missing. We found a gray rat snake, 6 goot long with two or three in his tummy. He couldn't get out so we did kill him. We now get eggs again!

 

[mediazeal]

I had a broody sitting on a few eggs and one disappeared
I think the other hens getting into the box with her to lay their eggs (for her to sit on as well) must have stepped on one and broken it
the momma hen then ate the broken egg and all bits of shell, I did find a tiny bit of egg smear in the pine shavings, which is why I knew it was broken on the nest.

if it wasn't that, it is probably a snake
good luck

 

[ladydoc1992]

I had the same thing happen this summer. I had ordered some very expensive Serama eggs and put them under my broody hen. Next morning they were gone..all 4 of them! Ordered more, put under hen...then sat up and watched for 2 nights...caught that varmit in action! 5' long black snake..so full of eggs he couldn't get back thru the holes in the wire! Last eggs he ever ate.!
What was amazing was that he could squeeze his big body thru such small holes in the first place.!

 

[blazensasha]

I would say SNAKE,I've had to deal with them many times.