Mama goes crazy, and there's an egg missing

[RenoHuskerDu]

Twice now, mama hen has bolted screaming out of the coop and run around for 15 minutes doing the alarm cluck. Both times I was right nearby and quickly looked for any predator. Nothing in sight.

Both times, one of her eggs is missing. We started with 12 eggs, now she's down to 10. We've looked around the coop for rat snakes carefully, no sign. I have small mesh hardware cloth around the coop so only a small snake should be able to get in.

Is there another predator that steals entire eggs and runs off with them? We have coons around here. The heelers have killed one so far. I think it was also eating watermelon from the garden. But we've only seen coons active at night. These events have happened in broad daylight.

 

[LittleBigBantam]

Could it be another hen?

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Could it be another hen?

I guess, but we'd spot it in one of the seven other nesting spots.
Do chickens go democide and eat eggs??? No broken shells around.

 

[LittleBigBantam]

I guess, but we'd spot it in one of the seven other nesting spots.
Do chickens go democide and eat eggs??? No broken shells around.

That has happened far too many times to me. I advise putting her in a solitary spot where the other chickens cannot get in

 

[alwaystj9]

They eat the shells.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

They eat the shells.

We have a feeder full of crunched egg shells sitting right there for them too.

I'm getting ready to be offended if this is true. How could they???

 

[LittleBigBantam]

We have a feeder full of crunched egg shells sitting right there for them too.

I'm getting ready to be offended if this is true. How could they???

My chickens, unfortunately, once ate the chicks as they were hatching. It is horrible, but you need to confine your broody hen and her eggs

 

[Sonya9]

Twice now, mama hen has bolted screaming out of the coop and run around for 15 minutes doing the alarm cluck. Both times I was right nearby and quickly looked for any predator. Nothing in sight.

Both times, one of her eggs is missing. We started with 12 eggs, now she's down to 10. We've looked around the coop for rat snakes carefully, no sign. I have small mesh hardware cloth around the coop so only a small snake should be able to get in.

Is there another predator that steals entire eggs and runs off with them? We have coons around here. The heelers have killed one so far. I think it was also eating watermelon from the garden. But we've only seen coons active at night. These events have happened in broad daylight.

Sounds like another predator. If it was another hen I would expect her to be squabbling/fighting over the egg and not running away screaming in terror. IMO you should put her in some sort of predator proof crate inside the hen house. I set up setting hens up in a cat carrier and close the door at night, or sometimes all day too with some food/water and just let them out once a day for their daily break.

A hen house is NOT a natural environment and too many things can go wrong with an open nest accessible to all. New eggs get laid and mess up the incubation schedule, eggs get broken by other hens, snakes get at them, broodies sit on the wrong nest and eggs die etc...

And IMO if another hen was eating the eggs it would be obvious, they can't carry the whole egg away and there would be signs of shell bits/spilled yolk etc..

 

[Sonya9]

One other possibility is that an egg cracked underneath her and got stuck to her feathers (egg white is glue). When she got off the nest the egg stayed stuck for a while and then dropped off somewhere else in the coop. I wouldn't expect that to happen TWICE but it is a possibility (and a cracked egg would get eaten by somebody).

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Sounds like another predator. If it was another hen I would expect her to be squabbling/fighting over the egg and not running away screaming in terror. IMO you should put her in some sort of predator proof crate inside the hen house. I set up setting hens up in a cat carrier and close the door at night, or sometimes all day too with some food/water and just let them out once a day for their daily break.

A hen house is NOT a natural environment and too many things can go wrong with an open nest accessible to all. New eggs get laid and mess up the incubation schedule, eggs get broken by other hens, snakes get at them, broodies sit on the wrong nest and eggs die etc...

And IMO if another hen was eating the eggs it would be obvious, they can't carry the whole egg away and there would be signs of shell bits/spilled yolk etc..

Sounds like another predator, but what would do that? We've lost eggs to snakes but they slither away slowly and we spot 'em. They also aren't satisfied with just one egg. We've lost a hen to a hawk, but they don't steal eggs. I'm only familiar with coons coming at night, when it's all tightly closed up.