Missing eggs

[claudiab]

Our guineas laid 30-40 eggs on our hay wagon. 3 guinea hens were laying in this same nest. This morning ALL the eggs have vanished! No shells, pieces of shell, absolutely nothing. The nest has not been torn up. Our dogs are kenneled...do not have any access to the nest. We have looked through the hay on the wagon for any trace of egg shells. There are none. This wagon was basically empty except for a very small pile of hay that I had been feeding to a lamb. We have went over and over this in our minds, Although a snake would perhaps eat a few eggs, it could not possibly eat 30-40 eggs! Raccoon, opossum, rats, would have left shell pieces (I think). Last year we had an issue with a neighbor nabbing some guinea keets and selling them. So, of course our thoughts are again moving in that direction! Does anybody have any other ideas on where 35ish guinea eggs could have gotten to overnight?

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Human is the only thing I can think of that would make 30+ eggs completely disappear w/o a trace. I would watch nest carefully. A trail cam might be used to catch/prove theft. Beyond that IDK what to say.

 

[ChaoSS]

Why does everyone recommend trail cams?
Don't most of them make noise when they go off? Most of the trail/game cameras I was looking at for this purpose would give themselves away, opening you up to theft and vandalism.

 

[greasemonkey88]

Why does everyone recommend trail cams?
Don't most of them make noise when they go off? Most of the trail/game cameras I was looking at for this purpose would give themselves away, opening you up to theft and vandalism.

Trail cameras make no noise at all that would be silly to scare game away that you plan on hunting at the same spot later in the year. Most cameras now days are camouflaged and have an infrared flash invisible to the human eye. Some can take video with sound too. Also, they have settings that can change how long they record or how many pictures to take. I have a few of them for deer and they work great. I would suspect neighbors before any animal. Animals wouldn't take such care to not break them.

 

[ChaoSS]

I've heard a number of complaints about the noise made by even the ir flash on some models. Just pay attention to what you are buying I suppose.

 

[greasemonkey88]

I have a stealth cam and can say that unless you are looking for it you will have trouble seeing it and mine has no sound registerable. Now my old school flash model that thing makes a slight click going off. Anyway, do you have neighbors close maybe parents to, I don't know, adolescents? Lol. they might be getting an early start on Halloween egging eggs. Keep us posted what develops.


P.S.
I just remembered that if you are looking for one don't get those silly ones that have red LEDs or a single red led. My dad has one and it is obvious when it is taking a picture. And cable lock it no matter where it is.

 

[claudiab]

We do have neighbors. Last year we had 8 or 9 guinea keets vanish from our farm. The neighbors said they saw them walking away, over the hill. However, we have video cameras, so we are well aware of where those keets went. Our animals are kept up. They do not meander off our property what-so-ever.Well, except for the adult guineas. All of our neighbors like them. Say they keep the bugs out of their gardens, etc. They even feed them stuff. These keets were hatched by me and were inside the fencing (woven wire). They thought they were chickens, not guineas, so never ventured away from the 'girls'. They were also quite tame, you could catch them with no problems at all. The keets were for sale. I had already sold several of them. You would have to know, and understand, our neighbors. The people around here (we were not raised here) are a jealous sort. They do not like it if anyone does anything to try to make money, have a nice farm, pick up trash along the road front,etc. We are retired, so farming (small scale) is how we make extra money. Our animals HAVE to help pay for their upkeep! Anyway, those keets were snatched, and I am supposing were sold. That is on camera. We decided not to say anything to them, except in a round about way, that we knew who took the keets.Now we have lost all these eggs. Guineas will sell for $7-$10 each. That is a LOT of money! Our shed, where these eggs were,does not have cameras. It will soon, though! So, we cannot say for sure they stole these eggs. But, I am 95% sure they did. I was just wanting to see if anyone could think of something that would have taken the eggs, not disturb the nest, and leave no traces. I would much rather deal with raccoon, skunks, opossums, rats, etc.! WILDLIFE is a whole lot easier to deal with than HUMANS! The bad thing is: these people are relatives! Blood is NOT thicker than water! If we were younger, and could build all this stuff over, we would most definitely move! I have decided over the past few years that I absolutely hate WV!

 

[greasemonkey88]

We do have neighbors. Last year we had 8 or 9 guinea keets vanish from our farm. The neighbors said they saw them walking away, over the hill. However, we have video cameras, so we are well aware of where those keets went. Our animals are kept up. They do not meander off our property what-so-ever.Well, except for the adult guineas. All of our neighbors like them. Say they keep the bugs out of their gardens, etc. They even feed them stuff. These keets were hatched by me and were inside the fencing (woven wire). They thought they were chickens, not guineas, so never ventured away from the 'girls'. They were also quite tame, you could catch them with no problems at all. The keets were for sale. I had already sold several of them. You would have to know, and understand, our neighbors. The people around here (we were not raised here) are a jealous sort. They do not like it if anyone does anything to try to make money, have a nice farm, pick up trash along the road front,etc. We are retired, so farming (small scale) is how we make extra money. Our animals HAVE to help pay for their upkeep! Anyway, those keets were snatched, and I am supposing were sold. That is on camera. We decided not to say anything to them, except in a round about way, that we knew who took the keets.Now we have lost all these eggs. Guineas will sell for $7-$10 each. That is a LOT of money! Our shed, where these eggs were,does not have cameras. It will soon, though! So, we cannot say for sure they stole these eggs. But, I am 95% sure they did. I was just wanting to see if anyone could think of something that would have taken the eggs, not disturb the nest, and leave no traces. I would much rather deal with raccoon, skunks, opossums, rats, etc.! WILDLIFE is a whole lot easier to deal with than HUMANS! The bad thing is: these people are relatives! Blood is NOT thicker than water! If we were younger, and could build all this stuff over, we would most definitely move! I have decided over the past few years that I absolutely hate WV!

That is just ridiculous you have to deal with them. It might hurt your relationship, but if it messes with your livelihood, it shouldn't be happening anyway. I would file a complaint or turn over your video evidence to the police. Threaten to court case and get some of your money back.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I had a fox or group of foxes that took all the duck eggs in one night. There were about 50 eggs in the four nests that were emptied out.
Nothing looked disturbed except the mommies that had lost everything.

 

[claudiab]

I wish it were foxes! We have woven wire, with a strand of electric wire around the bottom, inside and outside, and one running along the top. We have goats, ducks, chickens, sheep and horses (what have I forgotten) that we keep in various fields around this shed. The combo of woven wire/electric fencing works very well. So far,we have managed to keep dogs, etc. out, and our animals in. The electric also keeps our animals from 'riding' the woven wire down. We try our very best to protect all our livestock, but sometimes, apparently, that just isn't enough! I was just a few days too late...I was going to put eggs in my Brinsea incubator, some under our broody Gold Laced Wyandotte, and still have eggs left for the guineas to set on...I have learnt a VERY valuable lesson! I will not repeat this mistake! Cameras will be installed, and more importantly, I will keep my mouth shut about what we have going on on our side of the fence!