Frustrated with lack of eggs!

[Honeybee22]

My grandparents backyard was overrrun with squirrels when I was a kid. Papa use to give us kids a pellet gun and we'd have fun shooting at them. This was in Burbank, California -- middle of a big city with neighbors all around. No one ever called the cops or anything. I don't think we were ever successfull at hitting any, but Papa was.

 

[Chickassan]

No matter what you do, you've got some chicken apologising to do lol!

I wish my hens would eat the squirrel! I'd consider getting a rooster but again, I live in the city lol.

 

[SluceableMocha]

No matter what you do, you've got some chicken apologising to do lol!

It's true haha! My hens can be pretty loud some days. But my neighbors are pretty nice.

 

[Magical Garden Girl]

I am so frustrated with my hens right now! I have 2 RIR, 2 Barred Rock, and 2 Americaunas. The Americaunas are almost 3 years old and the other 4 are about 7 months. The older ladies finished a molt recently and at least one has begun laying again. The new ladies have all begun laying, they were laying almost daily for a while but now I'm only getting maybe 2 eggs a day from all 6 chickens! I'm positive that at least 1 of the Americaunas are eating eggs. I separated them from the rest of the flock and tried making mustard eggs to deter them - they ate the freaking mustard eggs. Ate them whole! And I'm still only getting 1 egg a day from the other 4, so I think one or more of them are eating eggs too! I've ordered some Pinless Peepers to see if that helps, but if it doesn't I'm seriously considering just selling them all. I'm so sick of trying to figure out how to get them to lay, and how to figure out how to stop them eating eggs, and I cant afford to keep feeding them if they're not giving eggs in return.

Also, squirrels keep getting into my coop and eating the chicken food and I can't afford to be feeding squirrels too! We live in the city so I can't just trap or kill the squirrel either. We don't have the money to go crazy trying to squirrel-proof the coop so we've been trying to MacGyver it and it obviously hasn't worked yet. I have 3 kids, 2 of whom are under 2, and I can't be running outside every 15 minutes to chase away squirrels and check for eggs before they get eaten. What do I do?? I really enjoy the chickens and I don't want to get rid of them, but we can't justify keeping them if they're only pets. We've already got 3 freeloading cats, lol. We can't have 6 freeloading chickens too!

Welcome

Being a birder I have noted that the biggest complaint about setting out birdseed are squirrels. People even say they've tried it all and the squirrels still get past the anti squirrel methods on bird feeders
It's almost like they are the raccoons of pests

I don't know how well the natural remedies work that are listed in this thread but I'd try that first.

What has worked for me is having cats. There are a few that are bold and taunt the cats in the trees but for the most part they stay away from the ground and stick to the trees. The cats even keep the gopher population to zero. They have never caught or tried to catch a squirrel but their presence is enough.

I do know people spray predator urine around the parameter of their yards to keep deer, possum and even raccoons away. Might help to look into that - but not sure if it would freak out the chickens unless you keep a distance from the coop and run etc. (heck I wonder if Cat urine would do too?)

You can search on Amazon for wolf or coyote urine and go to the questions section to see if it has worked for squirrels. If not there you can ask and ask if it would freak out the chickens and what distance is recommended. Or you can just call the manufacturer

Good luck to you

I'd get a Cat from the SPCA already grown - if you like cats and make it beneficial and put a bell in it to ward off birds
Imho

 

[SluceableMocha]

I actually have 3 cats already, all are great mousers but they don't seem to deter the squirrels at all. I've been spraying through squirrels with the jet sprayer when I see them and that keeps them away for a day or so, but they always come back.

 

[Poultryman120]

I am so frustrated with my hens right now! I have 2 RIR, 2 Barred Rock, and 2 Americaunas. The Americaunas are almost 3 years old and the other 4 are about 7 months. The older ladies finished a molt recently and at least one has begun laying again. The new ladies have all begun laying, they were laying almost daily for a while but now I'm only getting maybe 2 eggs a day from all 6 chickens! I'm positive that at least 1 of the Americaunas are eating eggs. I separated them from the rest of the flock and tried making mustard eggs to deter them - they ate the freaking mustard eggs. Ate them whole! And I'm still only getting 1 egg a day from the other 4, so I think one or more of them are eating eggs too! I've ordered some Pinless Peepers to see if that helps, but if it doesn't I'm seriously considering just selling them all. I'm so sick of trying to figure out how to get them to lay, and how to figure out how to stop them eating eggs, and I cant afford to keep feeding them if they're not giving eggs in return.

Also, squirrels keep getting into my coop and eating the chicken food and I can't afford to be feeding squirrels too! We live in the city so I can't just trap or kill the squirrel either. We don't have the money to go crazy trying to squirrel-proof the coop so we've been trying to MacGyver it and it obviously hasn't worked yet. I have 3 kids, 2 of whom are under 2, and I can't be running outside every 15 minutes to chase away squirrels and check for eggs before they get eaten. What do I do?? I really enjoy the chickens and I don't want to get rid of them, but we can't justify keeping them if they're only pets. We've already got 3 freeloading cats, lol. We can't have 6 freeloading chickens too!

 

[Poultryman120]

I believe that the biggest issue you are fighting is the decreasing day length. Chickens normally molt, get new feathers so they are ready for winter. We can fool the birds into thinking its spring by adjusting the day length.

Normally, you never want the pullets to see decreasing daylight after they're ten weeks old. You will want to put a light in the coop so that they are at 13 hours, bump this up a half hour every other week to 16 hours total. Timers can be set to come on early in the morning and again at dusk so you don't need to run the bulb during daylight.

You may feed the hens regularly durning the day and remove the feed after ten minutes, I would think 2 to 3 times a day will work. Check the nests at that time as well so you keep them away from temptation. Oystershell may help with the egg eating. If you know who is the culprit, you may want to remove her. I hope this helps.

B

 

[Areemas]

So how are they getting into your run? I think that's the main question.

 

[aart]

The egg eating can be a sign of lack of protein, especially animal protein, and molting birds need more protein to grow feathers.
What and how exactly are you feeding?

Fake eggs in the nests might help deter the egg eaters.

A rodent proof feeder might help.
This is the best one I've seen...pricey tho.

 

[mailmamm]

Just during the day, squirrels are diurnal so they're not a problem at night. I thought about putting out squirrel bait with poison, but I don't want to also poison someone's cat or dog if they ate the squirrel. And that still wouldn't really fix the problem. My husband suggested a squirrel feeder with something cheap in it, like peanuts, so they would leave the coop alone. But if they're also eating eggs (which I'm not sure of, I've never actually caught them IN the coop, just the run portion), they'd probably prefer the eggs to the peanuts anyways.

I know this is an old post but if you don't want squirrels around do not feed them! They will always come back for food. I have squirrels that I feed and have for a few years. Had to change my containers because they chew through plastic.