something took the eggs!

[Asgard Farms]

So last night just before the sun set, everyone was up on their Roosts

I noticed 2 eggs in the nest area of one of coops. Figured I would get them this morning and set them (they are fertile)

I walk out there this morning and see an egg on the pool deck - OUTSIDE THE COOP!
The shell was cracked open and the contents gone
I open the coop door (there is an inner door to the chickens area) and the other egg is on the ground broken in half and contents eaten.

1) what the heck did that?
2) how did it get in? As far as i can tell there is not a gap big enough for a coon to get thru.

I do leave the poop door open at night into their run (the run is chain link fence with chicken wire over the ENTIRE TOP)
no damage to the run i can see

I will close them up inside tonight, I was going to move the Hen to a coop by herself on the ground so she can sit her eggs but now I am scared to.

Idea's?

thanks from Central (wow it's Hot) Texas

 

[ranchhand]

Sounds like maybe a squirrel this morning or rat last night. A coon wouldn't bother with the eggs, it would be eating chickens, as would most predators.

As far as the hen, I have a rabbit cage covered with hardware cloth for broody hens. Keeps the snakes out!


And sympathies about the heat, I used to live in Austin. Be cool!

 

[Asgard Farms]

squirrel's I 100% have
and I know there are mice - no idea about rats.

What can i do to get rid of them? barn cat?

Daria

 

[NateinFL]

Possums come to mind...maybe a young one.

 

[BDF SL Wyandottes]

Sounds like a skunk to me.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
a skunk will usually bite just the end off the egg and then lick out the contents

 

[ctbagley]

Sounds like a skunk to me also. We had a skunk that came into the barn and ate the contents of the eggs (left the shells) and left the chickens alone. We caught him in the act one night! I watched him scramble under an interior barn door with a gap of only 1 inch...he somehow compressed his body to the ground and got out into the aisle. My husband then chased it outside and killed it with a shotgun. We could not believe how flat he made himself to roam through the barn. We live in a rural area and have 25 acreas so we have seen just about every predator you can think of. Hardware cloth is the only thing that seems to stop most predators. Snakes have been the biggest challenge with regards to eating eggs...we just put in 100 feet of bird netting around the perimeter of out outside coop/run...so hope we have stopped that problem too. We also invested in a havahart live-trap for coons and possums...don't get the cheap ones they drive you crazy trying to set them. You will be surprised what you can catch! Good Luck!

 

[Asgard Farms]

could a skunk get over my 6ft fence?

Time for a new door to the coop!

 

[biddybird]

Just a note, I live in Salado down the road from you. Something has found a good source of food in your coop and it will keep coming back and send the word out to others. It is so hot and dry here and we are having all sorts of preditor problems, everything is starving. We have seen everything from hawks, fox, skunks, deer, possum, coon to snakes in unusual places. Make some changes and protect your chickens. Don't take for granted that it will be just the eggs. I'm hearing all sorts of out of the ordinary stories at the feed store and from local ranchers and am fighting the losses in what have been very secure totally enclosed coops. I lost all my quail in one night to something that chewed though hardware cloth, the thick stuff, in a converted rabbit hutch. The wildlife we are seeing are very thin and desperate, and I'm noticing the fawn numbers are dropping. It's a really sad deal. We are keeping water troughs running in vacant pastures just to offer at least a drink even though our ranch is next to Stillhouse lake, which may be the reason we are seeing the increase in wildlife and seem to be so overrun. My garden has been totally eaten, even the things they never touch are gone.

Our neighbors and I have had to resort to trapping again to control our feed loss and have recently put out preditor lights on the coops, but with all the vegetation dryed to a crisp it is not going to get better.

I have put ceramic eggs in the coop before and found them discarded outside the coop with no chickens lost. But it is not too long afterwards that I started finding feathers everywhere and chickens missing so pay close attention.

Good Luck and pray for rain.

 

[Asgard Farms]

well I had been leaving the poop door open into the run, but no more.

I am going to lock them up tight into their coop and see how we do with that.

The new broodie coop, I have it set up with ceramic eggs in it to see what happens.