Three missing eggs ... fake egss that is

[Charlene]

In my nest boxes I put some fake eggs I got at Michael's. Very real looking, made of plastic and styrofoam I think.

Today one was missing. I threw a new one in and put another one in the other box.

Two hours later they were BOTH missing!

What is taking them? I have recently had two pecked real eggs too. Are these related problems? It's sOooo weird. My girls are free range all the time, so if it were something lika a raccoon, I think the girls would have been a tastier treat. But the mice are too small... Do ground squirrels do this? Other animals anyone? I'm in California.

I wonder if they have stolen real eggs? I only have two hens but the laying's been a bit light lately, but I thought one was broody....

 

[illinichick]

Could be a snake. They're known to swallow eggs. People use fake eggs or golf balls in the nest boxes for snakes to
swallow and die.

 

[Charlene]

Oh, that would be sad. Snakes are usually good things around here.

I forgot to mention that I have three kinds of fake eggs, the plastic ones that keep disappearing, a wood one, and a golf ball. Only the plastic ones have ever disappeared.

 

[jaredslilcluckers]

I thank it is a snake.

 

[redhen]

You said you had 2 real eggs that were pecked also? i wonder if the hens are doing it? did you find any pieces of the fake eggs at all around?if not..then i'd bet a snake also...

 

[Charlene]

Not a drop of the fake eggs. I almost thought I'd imagined putting them there.

Poor snake. God knows I could use them to get all the mice in the barn...

 

[horsejody]

My hens rearrange their fake eggs. They move them all around the coop. Yes, they pick them up, they roll them, all sorts of things. They move them from nest box to nest box, and they hide them around the coop. Don't think hens can't move those eggs, because they can.

 

[illinichick]

You're right also. I've had broody hens that I have removed from the nest box, set them on the ground and a few seconds later, an egg drops out from under their wings!

 

[Charlene]

They can carry the eggs under their wings???

I finally found a good egg today. I put it under a bag on top of a barrel in the barn (thought the doors were open) while I did some other things. When I came back, it had a big hole pecked in it. Argh! My girls can't fly that high so it definately was not them. I need a camera in my barn...