I'm new here and in SHOCK!

[meandmygirls]

Hi everyone,

I am new to these boards. I have been raising chickens successfully since January and having tons of fun. I have been anxiously waiting because on saturday, I am supposed to have 11 eggs hatch. I have a cochin that has been sitting on my Rhode Island Red Eggs for me. This morning, we had a little "early bird." I was so happy to see her! So adorable! But then I was shocked to see that ALL THE OTHER EGGS ARE GONE! I saw them there a few days ago. I can't always see them everyday because she is always on the eggs when I would go out to the chicken coop. My question is, can a chicken snake eat 10 eggs??? Or is it more likely this was theft? I know that no one knows for sure, I am just trying to make sense of it all because I am just so devastated. And that one little chick looks so sweet and all alone with no siblings. I will send a picture if anyone is interested in seeing my lone peep. I actually started looking everywhere for the eggs as if something moved them. I know that's ridiculous. Any advice about chicken snakes would be great! Thanks for reading.

---meandmygirls

 

[RM44]

Where are you located? Although I've seen accounts of snakes almost everywhere, but is there a chance you live in a non-snake infested area? How secure is your coop and run? What type of predators do you have in your area?

 

[crazy huhn]

That sure is odd.

Do you have rats or squirrels around? When was the last time you have seen ALL the other eggs? One of my broodies in the past had developed a taste for egg while sitting on the nest. At least once every day I take broodies of the nest to make sure they eat, drink and bath.

 

[bambi]

I do not have any answers for the missing eggs, But I would love to see pictures of your one lonely chick

 

[Chickaholic]

So sorry, it really could have been a number of different things

I would also love to see pics of the little cutie too!!

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

Everybody loves pictures!!

 

[LittleFeat]

So sorry it couldn't have been over happier circumstances. I can't offer any help but hopefully you'll figure out what got the eggs but until then, take care of that baby.

AND yes we'd LOVE to see pics!

 

[meandmygirls]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for all the replies. Snakes are indigenous to our area. I'm in Texas. We live in the woods. I've seen raccoons and plenty of squirrels. My pen is very secure and their run, which I call their playground because of all the fun perches for them to jump up and down on, is secure and fenced, even the roof is fenced. The person who said, that it was "odd", I feel is right on target. It's just odd. I just can't figure out how the eggs would just "vanish."

I am still trying to figure out how to add a picture on this forum.

I want to add that today, I swapped chickens with a friend of mine. This was before I knew my eggs were gone! We traded and I gave her a Rhode Island Red and she gave me a 12 week old Buff Orpington. She is so beautiful. My 9 year old son who loves our chickens named her Charlotte.

This is what I have. one lone newborn chick, 5 RIRs 9 months old, 1 Buff Orpington12 weeks, and my cochin that I inherited with her 7 chicks. The cochin and her 7 chicks belonged to a neighbor of my friend and he didn't know she was sitting on eggs since he let her run wild. When he saw them, he didn't want them and said it's all or none, momma and all. Of course I took all of them that day!!! Chicks were barely a week old. Her chicks are just mix because she lived with 2 different roosters and so the chicks look mixed. One chick looks like her. But that was okay. I just wanted to rescue this little family. The chicks are now 14 weeks old and getting big and I'm pretty sure 3 of them are roosters! One of them pure white. (one of her rooster mates was pure white. the rest of the chicks look like the other rooster accept the one that looks like her! I don't know the breeds of either one of those roosters she lived with.) I have pictures of all of my hens and chicks.

Cochin momma is taking such good care of her little RIR chick. It's so sweet. I really don't think she ate all those eggs. I guess anything is possible. I just don't want to believe that though.

Aren't chickens cool?!?!

I'll post pics once I figure it out. I'm clicking the IMG tag but now I am figuring out what to do next.

meandmygirls

 

[JD]

Click on uploads at the top of this forum and another window should open up where you can browse your pic on your computer and click on the resize button below. Then click on submit button. Then after that you might have to open the uploads window again and at the far right you can click on My Uploads and it will open up your pictures. Click on the image code and it will turn blue and right click to copy and then paste in your reply here. Hope this helps and good luck with your new chick.

 

[msdoolittle]

I'm in Texas, too, and I've had that happen. An entire nest....GONE. It was either mama (which I don't think was the case, or I would have found sticky goo all in the nest) or a snake. I am betting it was a ratsnake. I had 10-12 bantam eggs gone in one night, and one time it was 2 big duck eggs. I would bet that a snake could do that! After all, they do break the shell when it is inside them, so it's really not that huge an amount, especially for a large snake. Anyway, I can't prove it, but judging by the sheer #s of ratsnakes here, I am putting my money on it! Snakes can get through the tiniest openings. If their head can get through, THEY can get through. For a large ratsnake, that's probably not too much bigger than a quarter sized opening.

For our new coop, we are building it off of the ground, fully 'encapsulated' (lol), to prevent this.