What would eat 2 dozen eggs in one night and not leave a single shell?

[sparkles2307]

Last night something came into the barnyard, pulled all the tail and wing feathers off one of my broody ducks (I assume she was fighting it while it stole her eggs) and took/ate all of her eggs. It also raided 2 other duck clutches in other locations not near the first one. thats 2 dozen eggs in one night, and not one piece of shell to be found. What would do that? A skunk was in our garage last night, but our house is so far from the barnyard, and it didnt smell like skunk in the barn area at all. I'm so upset, now the only eggs I have are the ones in my incubator... and hopefully the girls lay a few more this season. My little one is 5 and said this morning that when he grows up he is gonng be "just a skunk hunter and kill all those naughty skunks!" because right now we're assuming skunk...?

 

[obxWaMi]

I would say a snake maybe swallowed them whole since no shells are left, but 2 doz.? That would have to be one mighty big snake!

Only other idea I can come up with would be a HUMAN. You got any people showing strange interest in your ducks?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Only one thing could have done that....... El Chupracabra.

I know "shut up Steve"

To eat that many eggs I would think skunk, 'possum, 'coon? But like you said no smell so maybe not the skunk. A snake wouldn't eat that many. There wasn't any tracks that you could see?

Steve

 

[Joz]

2 snakes?

 

[sparkles2307]

It was raining all night, I looked for tracks but they were washed away if there were any. We dont have anything bigger than a 6 inch gater snake around here. There are no neighbors, the closest ones dont even know I have ducks. I thought maybe coo too, but the mama duck isnt bleeding, just has a lot of feathers missing, wouldnt a coon have done more damage?

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
yeah, coon would have wrung her neck. I am thinking maybe a 2 legged pest personally. 2 dozen eggs is more than a human could eat... I doubt a coon would bother to carry off that many eggs.. nothing else seems to fit tho... different locations, eggs taken, no perm harm to your animals... A predator would probably have caught and killed......... unless you have something like 20' pythons or something up there

 

[LindseyM12]

 

[chicnfarmer]

Quote:
Come on - it is common knowledge that Chupacabrae (plural) are specialized predators which prey upon ungulates such as sheep and goats. Get with the program Steve.

 

[sparkles2307]

I found one shell from a call duck in the barn, but no other shells anywhere...the cat was actuing creepy about the back of the barn, like something was there that she could see and I couldnt. I didnt want to poke around, cause I saw a large woodchuck go in there about a month ago and those guys are grumpy, not what I want to tangle with in a dark cluttered barn on my way to work! A woodchuck wouldnt do that would he?

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

A dog? My dogs can clean out a found nest very quickly and they eat the shell - no tell tale track from them

Dog might also pull out the feathers but not attack the duck once distracted by the yummy eggs.

My other guess would be humans.