Squirrels eating chicken eggs

[Mervin]

Quote:
Just curious...what's your groovy feeling about rats?

I'm sure if it were that easy, every electric company in the country would have squirrel-proof sub stations by now. What's a couple of $100s for fencing compared to the cost of a blackout.

Also, I'm not sure about feeding them. Seems to me that might just draw more of the furry little nuisances in. Let's face it, animals tend to congregate where food is abundant. Especially if they don't have to spend calories to obtain it. Look at any suburban park or college campus for examples of this in practice.

 

[paddock36]

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I'm with ya. I knew my egg production was down but I never thought squirrels were stealing the eggs.

 

[Mervin]

A.T. Hagan :

There are probably more squirrels in the United States right now than before the advent of European colonization. We provide them plenty of cover, enormous amounts of food, and cut way down on their predation. So like all rodents they breed and breed and breed until their population inevitably crashes the first time there is a bad mast year or a disease gets them. We could all bag squirrels all day long and not seriously affect their populations. Actually feeding the things will only increase the problem not decrease it.

Raccoons are mostly a problem at night when the birds are on the roost so one can simply close up the hen house to exclude them. Squirrels are very active all day long and naturally are not deterred by fences unless you have a good hot wire set up. I've only seldom had them bother my eggs, but they are a bloody nuisance about getting into feeders. They're rodents. Occasionally they need to have their populations thinned out.

.....Alan.

Amen! If it makes you feel better, use the eggs you save to make a batter for those rodents. Just par-boil them or something first.​

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Use a pellet gun and sit in the coop waiting. That would burn my biscuits if I had squirrels doing that...

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

how about a have a heart trap with a fake egg or two in it, maybe those plastic ones filled with peanuts or something......and then take it to a park 15 miles away or so....just a suggestion.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

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I also choose exclusion as a method of predator control. Exclusion can work very well. I have almost no predator loss. I use natural controls to enhance the exclusion method, and have found that not only can I live with nature, I can use natural balances such as snakes, bats and owls. For instance, I don't have out of control rodent populations because I keep them out of my henhouse and out of the feed. I also secure my poultry at night, thus avoiding the worry of racoons or mountain lions. It can be done, it has worked for me for years. I protect my flock and leave my wildlife alone.

If I found those naughty squirrels in my yard, I would videotape them and then I would figure out how they were getting in and block them out.

 

[patman75]

Quote:
But squirrels are sooo tasty. If I a squirrel taking my organic eggs I would...

1. Set up a lawn chair in a nice sunny location and soak in some vitamin D.
2. Bring a book and a nice cold beverage
3. Bring air power rifle.
4. Take care of problem and cook em for dinner. A nice country organically feed squirrel. That meat will be so lean and full of healthy omega 3s.
5. Give the carcus and other choice organs to the chickens.

Sounds like a nice relaxing day.

 

[Ozark Chicken]

I have had the same problem and people said I was crazy. They stumble out with them, they carry them as far as possible, they sit and eat them in the nest. I've once saw a squirrel kill and eat a baby quail in the wild. When it gets bad w just shoot several of them and that seems to keep the rest honest. Plus they are great in a crock pot with BBQ sauce!!! Seriously they are a renewable resource. I can't "exclude" them. My hens free range ( more organic eggs) they have to go in and out all day. Just because it's not domesticated doesn't mean its not good to eat, actually wild food is often much healthier. So fatten up those fuzzy tailed rats and fire up the frier

 

[Lozen]

I shoot a pile of red squirrels, and any other predators that bother us. . No regrets. No apologies. I'm not going to surround the property with hardware cloth. Red Squirrels are nasty. They're the #1 predator of wild bird eggs, and young birds. Go look next time you hear robins squawking. You might get to see a baby bird get thrown out of it's nest. I've seen it alot. I recently read about a study of an endangered snowshoe population in Canada that the biologist were suprised to find the main predator of the young was red squirrels.

 

[sourland]

The mental picture of a squirrel rolling an egg out the coop door is hilarious. The only two solutions that I can envision are elimination of the squirrels or exclusion from the coop/run. The second choice is almost impossible with squirrels-ask anyone involved in wildlife control work. Feeding wildlife is never a solution. It only creates more problems.