Eggs have disappeared! Help!

[enola]

Roll away nests are the solution to this problem.

 

[StruckBy]

I've been amazed what ravens & crows will do to get in and steal eggs. I had ravens who were lifting up a wire flap at the junction of the run & coop & sqeezing in. I watched them do it and STILL don't understand how they physically managed...especially carrying an undamaged egg! One pair of ravens was stealing roughly 20 duck eggs a day from me at the peak. Those raven chicks must have been too fat to fly by the time I figured it out and wired it shut!

 

[subhanalah]

Wouldn't parasites give a similar symtpom list?

 

[aknewlin]

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!

We have cats as well, so I just use something the cats won't eat, like sunflower seeds or a dab of peanut butter. Works like a charm.

 

[cackleberrycam]

Yup!

 

[americaca jtl]

Could be a chicken snake, golf balls in the nest boxes will also solve that problem!

 

[bugflipper]

Could be a chicken snake, golf balls in the nest boxes will also solve that problem!

Yikes, bet that would plug one up. And I thought golf was useless.

One issue I don't understand is every time a snake thread pops up there are generally folks that post on it. Please relocate to another area. Not really sure why there is always a need for someone to request what to do with a critter that is causing problems, but if a furry animal such as a raccoon no such recommendation is given. Snake worshipers? The reason I ask is it just seems odd that many people in normal life will tell you not to kill nonpoisonous snakes but really it's not their business to tell anyone what they should do. Yet a fox or similar critter is not given the same curiousness from folks you bump into about relocating it. Me thinks they be of de debil, the folks that is.

 

[subhanalah]

Yikes, bet that would plug one up. And I thought golf was useless. 

One issue I don't understand is every time a snake thread pops up there are generally folks that post on it. Please relocate to another area. Not really sure why there is always a need for someone to request what to do with a critter that is causing problems, but if a furry animal such as a raccoon no such recommendation is given. Snake worshipers? The reason I ask is it just seems odd that many people in normal life will tell you not to kill nonpoisonous snakes but really it's not their business to tell anyone what they should do. Yet a fox or similar critter is not given the same curiousness from folks you bump into about relocating it. Me thinks they be of de debil, the folks that is.  

Get rid of a snake problem inherit a rodent problem. I believe that's why.

 

[bugflipper]

Rodents are much easier to get rid of than snakes since they eat and drink several times a day. Rodents generally lead to snakes being attracted in the first place. The problem is eggs and chicks are much easier to catch than rodents so snakes become a predation problem as soon as they move in.

 

[ChickenPox]

I advocate relocating anything, not just snakes. But what a lot of people dont realize is that NON venomous snakes also keep venomous snake numbers DOWN. And as far as chicken pests go, i would rather deal with a snake than a coon, possum, fox, and even rats and mice. Snakes are essential to the economy, and I for one get tired of hearing people "freak out" and kill one just because it exists. Thats why.