EGGS MISSING

[WindyOaksYokes]

Something could have disturbed the birds.. its a good possibility. We live in the woods, always have something around...

Rats, it would not surprise me... I didn't rule that out... never heard of wood rats though...

Snakes - OMGoodness... 6 eggs????

We started going out every thirty minutes to collect eggs... yesterday we got about 15.... today about 14...

No, there is nothing left of the eggs, no sign at all that anything has been disturbed... Just no eggs... Just makes no sense.

 

[glassparman]

Crows, Ravens, whatever you want to call them. I've seen them hanging out but I just thought they were "Hanging out". Then it happened, I saw them fly off with an egg in their mouth.

Chickens will also slow production if the weather changes drastically. Mine seem to slow laying as the weather cools but then production picks back up when the temp levels out.

Michael

 

[horsejody]

We had a baby raccoon stealing eggs once. I suddenly stopped getting eggs. We got nothing for at least 2 weeks. Then one night DD came home from work after dark. When she pulled in the drive way, she saw a baby raccoon breaking into the coop. He was pulling the bottom of the door open just far enough to squeeze in. I don't know what happened to Mama, but he knew where to find food. The eggs were always completely gone - no shells, no mess, no trace. No birds were ever injured, just eggs stolen. We put an extra latch at the bottom of the door, and never had trouble again.

 

[miss_jayne]

i vote possible possums! they can put them away big time. my neighbor used to have that problem and she swears they are the worst! the whole raccoon thingy is possible too! they are sassy egg eaters!

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

Well, what a shocker today... we got quite a few of our eggs today... a total of 22 plus our duck eggs.

Chickens will also slow production if the weather changes drastically. Mine seem to slow laying as the weather cools but then production picks back up when the temp levels out.

I know, but our weather for the most part is still in the 70's, and 90% of our breeds are good winter layer breeds. We also have the issue of molting (which we have been dealing with for 3+ months), but most all the girls seem to be coming out of that.

Hey wait a minute... I can not believe it took me this long to remember, but Kajunbanty reminded me of this... we had issues with hawks last weekend and in the beginning of the week... no, that we are aware of they did not get any girls... but sure scared everyone... chickens, ducks, turkeys, and us... could this be mystery solved??

But still it could have be a combination of things... Will not let our guard down though, I can promise that!

Well thanks to all of you who have suggested and hopefully we have figured it out.... I will keep you posted if anything else comes up.

Tes