Eggs have disappeared! Help!

[heartsizedfarm]

Ahh. What about a rat?

 

[audrey305]

Could be, if they are eating the whole thing in the coop, but there's no evidence. I'll look at the trail cam footage tonight and hopefully have an answer!

 

[Kymud]

I had a possum eat 10 eggs last night. It then decided to take a nap in the hens nest which is where It was when I came in. Needless to say it stole its last egg.

 

[audrey305]

Oh my yes he would be dead meat.

 

[ChickenPox]

Snakes eat eggs and can get in easily. If you do happen to find a non-venomous snake, PLEASE relocate it instead of killing it!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Funny snake story. Hubby and I wanted to move some old posts from the part of the property that borders a woods to the side of the barn for edging a hollyhock garden. We loaded them into the back of our suburban, didn't have a truck at the time, and drove them up the laneway to the barn. When we went to unload them the whole suburban was crawling with dozens of tiny green garter snakes! My husband, born in South Africa, has a horror of snakes, so it was very brave of him to drive them back and help me put them back in the woods, but I really felt we had to! It was tricky catching them all, and my husband was creeped out for weeks driving that car into work, expecting something to slither up his leg the whole time!

 

[The Lazy L]

Secure the coop so nothing can get in. If you are still short eggs, you may have an egg eater.

I'm in total agreement. Secure the coop!

 

[bugflipper]

Could be multiple critters as well. The possum wouldn't be hanging around just for exercise on top of the door. He could be the only culprit as well. Betting a raccoon is in the mix and maybe even rats as well helping the possum with the feed. Simply do as suggested and keep them out. I'd also suggest getting a cage trap. If you have a tractor supply store near they have a 2 pack, 1 large and 1 medium for a reasonable price. Bait it with an egg or marshmallow. After the door is fixed just leave it outside.Just take any large critters several miles away for a new home if leary of dispatching. No good is going to come from the situation you are describing though. You're very lucky they haven't figured out how to get to the chickens yet.
Good luck.

 

[audrey305]

Live traps were my first thought, but we have barn cats and it's not going to do me any good to trap them...Trail cam came up with nothing, and I had the same two eggs that were in there last night. I'm stumped!

 

[katiesue]

About a year and a half ago, When our chickens who were laying 10 eggs a day declined rapidly, until they stopped laying altogether, we were perplexed. Then one morning, my husband peeked in on his way to work, and saw about 7 eggs in the nest box. "Oh good!" he thought, "They're laying again!" He left the eggs there as he was running late for work, and I wasn't home at the time. When he returned home to collect the eggs later, there was no sign that any eggs had been there at all. Since our coop was critter-proof to the best of our knowledge, my husband suspected a neighbor-thief, and set up a hidden camera aimed directly at the egg nest, and another camera at the gate to our yard. The next morning, he checked the box.... 3 eggs on his way to work. Came home and looked... no eggs. Watched the video and was impressed to see that every hen had layed that day... the nest was FULL! Then he noticed the hens going in and out of the nest box like crazy... they were all excited over something... and finally he got the view he needed... EVERY ONE OF THEM were eating their own eggs, and FIGHTING over them! From that point on, he knew that the eggs had to be gathered as soon as they were laid... but the hens eventually got to where they beat us to it, no matter how early we got out there to collect. It's been a battle ever since. We finally decided to start over, and bought some new chicks.... and this time, we'll make sure eggs always get collected early before an egg-eater can develop! I don't know if you have an egg-eater or not, but we did learn that some days, they don't eat them... other days they're on top of it before we have a chance. So keep watching the cam for a few days... something will eventually show up... a camera is the only way to find out.