okay, way too many missing eggs

[igotchickens]

Our eggs are being stolen! Trying to figure out the culprit. Its not a human. There are some spaces predators can get in, a couple places the chickens scratched the dirt dust bathing, I doubt an egg could fit under it though. And there's about a 4 inch wide gap between coop and barn wall where the fencing doesn't cover. There's also about a 3 inch gap under the gate into the run. The whole thing is covered with netting. The chickens are fine but we're losing I'd say up to 8 eggs a day. All eggs are laid in the coop and there is a 6-8 inch lip to step over to get out but there's a ramp for the chickens to get in, only on the outside, not the inside. We live in Poway, CA. Known predators in the area:

Skunks - I don't think they can get in
Raccoons - I don't think they can get in
Crows - I don't think they can get in
Snakes - we have seen a gian king snake in our yard but how many eggs can they eat?
Rats - do they carry eggs in their mouths? And jump over the lip?
Coyotes - no dead chickens... and they def can't get in
Opposums - ?
No squirrels in our neighborhood. Lived there a year and never have seen a squirrel.

Any suggestions? Heeeelp! We have 3 fertilized x'd eggs left from 6

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
The rat snake my husband killed he caught curled up in the nest box had 10 eggs/shells we found after all the meat was cleaned off by whatever!!

 

[onthespot]

Any chance a hen has turned to egg eating? Sometimes they clean up every trace and you can't tell they committed eggicide at all just by looking.

 

[igotchickens]

I'm not ruling it out but some days we get no missing eggs so it seems weird to go from 2 eggs one day to 10 the next, then 4 then 9... it's just inconsistent, and we've never seen a chicken eat it unless we accidentally drop it. Pecking it open, no. And sometimes eggs get laid in the run (rare) and they're not pecked open. Plus, never a shell remnant to be found amongst the missing eggs or sticky/moist bedding in the coop or nesting boxes?

 

[silkiechicken]

I found a rat's dwelling that had stolen and moved about 2 dozen standard sized eggs a few feet from the nest...

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

I think if it were me I would take a 2 pronged aproach and put a couple of ceramic eggs in the nest for the snake to kill itself with, AND place one bite around for any Rats to enjoy.

 

[mulewagon]

I've had a snake get as many as six eggs at a time, or seven week-old chicks. A snake will rest for a while after a big meal, but of course you might have several predators! If you can't get hardware cloth over the gaps, try deer netting, to catch snakes. For rats, try poison in a metal bait station (if your chicks are too big to get in it!)

 

[dufus]

sounds just like a chicken snake to me. search inside your coop carefully, they will eat and lay up under some straw or whatever. i had the same situation a couple of months ago, i moved back some hay on the ground and there he was. [ and departed this earth ]

 

[Judy]

Here it's always been a snake. If it's chickens, they may be eating the shell as well. But with your small holes here and there, I'm betting snake or other egg eating critter.

 

[patman75]

If it was the chickens you would find yellow yoke on the other eggs or in the nest box material.

Any chance the hens are laying else where? Broody hen stealing eggs for her nest?

My gut tells me it is rat snake.