What eats my golf balls? in the winter

[BonDEEroo]

I’ve had crows steal my golf ball from the fairway - no other golfers or kids were around. The ball was fluoro green and must have caught their eye.

 

[RWise]

I could see that, they do like shinny things! Thing with crows is, shoot at them, not likely to harm them. But they will tell others, and they will tell others and you will soon no longer see them around your place. They will also recognize you wherever you go and sound a warning,,,
I think we can eliminate crows taking my balls, as they vanish at night.
I do have owls, last one (that I know of) hit the wire on the coop, and has not returned, must have hurt hitting my rusty wire,,,

 

[RWise]

thought
referring to the meth head neighbors !!

Yes you got it!

 

[kwhites634]

Ok I keep 1 golf ball in each nest, I do this to kill snakes in the warm months. However it is not warn at all out, not warn enuf for snakes to be out. I also dont have alligators, to cold for them here in Oklahoma. But over the last 5-6 weeks I have had 15 golf balls disappear out of 1 nest. Started out 1 at a time, so I put 2 in this nest and both zapped. So I put 9 golf balls in this nest (my hens are not using this nest at this time, but it got their attention, count those again), a few nights ago 2 were taken, night before last 6 were taken! This is always at night (grandkids are not doing this), never any commotion, the coop is just outside my bedroom window and this nest is between those points. The other nests are inside the coop.
I know I have predators, but nothing like this has happened before most of my issues come from the cat/s and dog/s next door (ya we fight a lot). I have taken out several opossums this last year (last 3 months).
I now have foot traps around this nest (I must protect my girls!!) at night, covered in the daytime.
Any thoughts on what I may (or may not) catch?
What eats golf balls in the winter?
And can they pass them? Snakes cannot,,,

game camera time

 

[kwhites634]

.nest) box out in the nestTheyard/run..

Now this is starting to make sense. If it's something on the ground it should have regular, visible trail

At least once I eliminated the grandkids.
And that didn't bother the parents. I bet the cops took a dim view of that, too. Last time I was in OK there were laws against such things

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Wash golf balls with egg white? I must have missed that in the OP. What is the purpose of doing that? The logical conclusion is that some animal smells the egg white and carts them off to lick it off.

 

[RWise]

These balls have never been in a nest, maybe some sent will get whatever in there to get caught in the trap/s. The others had experience being in nests,,, with eggs broken on them from time to time.

 

[RWise]

Well, Saturday night, Sunday morning 5 more golf balls vanished! Now this time it has been raining (we need that badly) so the sand is wet and would hold a foot print, nothing. And the traps not sprung. I added more balls and relocated the traps to inside the nest. It's about 24" deep.
Also talked to Mom and she spotted a snake out on February 1. This must be a snake, and must be a big one,,, what else could get in and out at night, leave no tracks, and not set off a trap?
I am going to keep supplying these balls for "it" to eat/take, I have plenty and if these keep "it" out of the coop, so be it!
This would also mean spring is here!
Edit; I am also going to use a minnow trap with an egg or three in it near this nest in hopes the snake will crawl inside and not be able to find it's way out.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

To crack this case ( no pun intended) you should invest in a trail camera. I don't think you will ever solve the mystery without one. Or, set up a spot in the run and sit out all night, watching. That way, you can catch whatever is taking the golf balls. It also could be trolls........

 

[coach723]

Game camera is what I would do next........eggcellent suggestion.