Grrrr even my rubber eggs are not safe.

[pgpoultry]

I use rubber eggs to try to persuade my wayward girls to lay in the coop. It hasn't worked so well, so very day has been an Easter egg hunt day for me.

So....my girls get used to laying in a few spots in the hedge etc. I place a couple of rubber eggs there to persuade them to continue to use the same site.

What happened? Well, I saw a crow with one in his talons, and found he had removed the rubber eggs from the coop. And the ones in the hedge......rat bitten.

I am wishing severe indigestion on them all right now.

 

[Mattemma]

I have had to lock my girls up for a longer time in the chicken shed to force them to lay in the nests. I have read of people emptying the eggs and filling them with various unpleasant things for egg stealers. Hope you can get them to lay in the coop.I had a hard time discouraging crows once they found the corn cobs I put out for blue jays.Had to stopfeeding the jays.

 

[Animalian]

Put some strips of material over the 'doorway' of the nest box you want them to lay in, it will make them feel very safe because it's a hiding place (like under the hedge).

I do it for mine and they all use the same box now

 

[pgpoultry]

Thanks for the tips......I'll try filling them with mustard. Our dog is a fair scarecrow, but my La Flèche are just about crow size at the moment, so i am not always sure who is going into the coop which is a distance form the house.

The strips of material sound a good idea Animalian.

 

[Tiss]

I use golf balls in my nest. Last month, I caught a rat snake eating one of them. Apparently golf balls aren't safe either.

In case you're wondering though, I cut the golf ball out of the snake with my shovel after decapitating the serpent. Hosed it off and it's no worse for its adventures!

 

[mrpekinduck]

Put rat poison in hollowed out eggs and you wont see those suckers again.

 

[Impress]

Quote:
Haha I can just see this, you crabbily cutting that golf ball out of that snake and saying, "THERE! Take MY golf ball will you?"

 

[Tiss]

LOL! Boy was I glad it was a dumb snake. In the nesting box right above it were a broody, 2 chicks and 3 eggs that hadn't hatched yet.

 

[pgpoultry]

Rat poison sounds like the 'ultimate treat'. I think that poisoned rats go back into their holes to die, don't they?

I would hate my chooks to be poisoned from eating an anti coagulated rat (And mine really will eat dead anything that they find).

Tiss, we don't have rat snakes here, but maybe I need to borrow one for the rats! Glad you could recycle the golf ball though. I must buy some old golf balls from a yard sale or similar, it will be much cheaper than the rubber eggs.