Mystery of the missing eggs

[ametauss]

I've got a real mystery on my hands. I have a chicken coop with a window about 4'5" off the ground for the girls to get in and out of plus two doors. I keep the doors closed since the GP was getting in and eating eggs.

Now there's no way for her to get thru the window and eggs are still missing. The coop has 5 young chicks in it that are about 2 mths old and none of them have been hurt so I figure it isn't a coon or fox getting in.

Could a snake crawl up the side of the coop and go in thru the window to get the eggs?? There's no sign in the coop of disturbance nor egg shells. I hear the girls doing the chicken dance so I know they're laying. If I get the eggs in the evening I believe I'm getting them all yet sometimes DS doesn't get them and the next day most are gone....

Any ideas??

 

[La Mike]

Possibly a snake do you have any porcelin eggs in your coop ?
If not try putting one or two in there that will mess up a snake .

 

[StupidBird]

Rats have been mentioned on other posts as egg stealers.

 

[TriciaHowe]

A snake could even be living in your coop and you wouldn't know. If you have eggs missing that frequently though I would think rats...Do you know anyone with a game camera? You could catch the culprit on the camera. I have an egg eating hen but can't figure out which one....

 

[songbird]

Snakes definitely can climb and steal eggs or babies, but they don't eat that often!

 

[ametauss]

My Sister is sending me some wooden eggs her DH made.... I'll try to find a small cage to put some rat killer in since I don't want the girls to get at it.

I doubt a snake would be living in the coop as I clean it out monthly and would have seen it when I cleaned two weeks ago....

Thanks for the suggestions....

If you have a hen eating eggs wouldn't you see some sign of leftovers??

 

[DragonFeathers]

If you have a hen eating eggs wouldn't you see some sign of leftovers??

Maybe wet hay or shavings in the nest box, that's all mine left behind.

 

[zelda504]

Help! I too have missing eggs. I had three marked eggs ready to hatch and this morning all three are gone. My run is locked and my coop door is locked. I do have a guillotine door leading to a locked run but the run has chicken wire on the bottom. Could a snake still get in? I'm very upset as these eggs were due to hatch any day.