eggs disappearing

[SB1987]

i have 2 bronze breasted turkeys (hens) 1 bronze breasted turkey (Tom) and 1 Blue Red Bronze turkey (hen), and for the past 2 weeks my blue bronze hen has been laying 1 egg a day, when we got to 9 eggs they started comeing up missing one a night,
(she would just lay another one the next day) now it has go to 2 eggs a night. she is not sitting on them at night just yet. I am woundering What could be happening to the disappering eggs. There is on shell left, and no insides in the nest anywere. I'm thinking a snake of some type, but they only disappear at night.does anyone know what could be happening or what i can do to stop this from continuing? i was gonna move her box but dont know how well that would go over with her.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Sounds like a snake to me as well.

Try checking the nest just after dark then again every hour or so. Snakes will be most active in the evening after dark before it cools down much. You may catch it in the act.

 

[SB1987]

thank you, have never had a snake problem b4. but have had friends that did thats how i came to that thery. thank you for the time part of it cause i would have not know when to go check things out

 

[Oregon Blues]

Night? Raccoons, possums, rats, stray dogs. Lots of things are happy to eat eggs at night.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I've had ravens take eggs during the early morning and evening.

 

[SB1987]

sorry it has been so long since ive got back to yall. . . . but in deed it was a 5 foot 3 inch snake i caught him in the box were she was nesting one night. needless to say he is not eating my turky eggs anymore.

 

[kuntrygirl]

sorry it has been so long since ive got back to yall. . . . but in deed it was a 5 foot 3 inch snake i caught him in the box were she was nesting one night. needless to say he is not eating my turky eggs anymore.

WOW! Glad you caught it.

 

[Celie]

i have 2 bronze breasted turkeys (hens) 1 bronze breasted turkey (Tom) and 1 Blue Red Bronze turkey (hen), and for the past 2 weeks my blue bronze hen has been laying 1 egg a day, when we got to 9 eggs they started coming up missing one a night,
(she would just lay another one the next day) now it has go to 2 eggs a night. she is not sitting on them at night just yet. I am wondering What could be happening to the disappearing eggs. There is on shell left, and no insides in the nest anywhere. I'm thinking a snake of some type, but they only disappear at night.does anyone know what could be happening or what i can do to stop this from continuing? i was gonna move her box but don't know how well that would go over with her.

I had similar trouble with snakes and also crows( they will eat eggs at daybreak, before I was out gathering) and I could not catch them, or I would have shot them and put an easy end to the matter. I went to town to a large hobby shop and bought 6 large ceramic eggs. 4 disappeared the first night, no more snakes, because they swallow eggs, and everything else, whole. Since they cannot digest the ceramic, they can not eat again and die. The other 2 were taken by crows, because I would find them around the yard, wherever the crow dropped it to break it open, after a few weeks of this, the crows got frustrated and bother the sparrows instead. I keep a few ceramic egg on hand in case a hen does not know where I want her to lay her eggs, Hens like to lay where other hens lay, so they will lay where the ceramic bird laid her ceramic egg. This dos not work for turkeys, since they(at least mine) like their privacy when laying, but if I replace the turkey egg I take with a fake one, she will keep laying in that spot and I do not have to hunt for her "new" hiding place.

Celie

 

[PekinBantam]

Nice to hear about the ceramic egg thing... Both our Turkeys and chickens don't know where to lay if we take the eggs for our breakfast. Once we found an egg on the outdoor laundry basket.

 

[Celie]

Nice to hear about the ceramic egg thing... Both our Turkeys and chickens don't know where to lay if we take the eggs for our breakfast. Once we found an egg on the outdoor laundry basket.

I have found them in many funny places like the tractor seat, the boat bait well, empty storage bins, and feeders. Sometimes the hens will come right to the front door mat to lay an egg. My husband calls it my delivery service. If I do not pick it up right away, another hen will lay right next to it within a half hour. Birds seem to want to lay where others lay, and if a hen goes broody they will call for their sisters to come lay in the same nest, so the broody hen can steal all of the eggs, until she has enough to set on them, usually about 25 to 30 !
If you don't have any ceramic eggs sometimes you can fool them with a golf ball, but because i is too round some of the smarter hens will roll it away or go lay somewhere else.