Where are my eggs? *update*

[lurky]

I know that nobody can know for sure, but maybe someone has had this happen to them. My bantam coop is more open and no eggs missing.....in fact a few broodies began to lay again so there were 2 more than usual. My standard hens coop and run are very tight. I even doubled the wire so the chicks could not get as i was letting the hens raise their own chicks. The run is covered and fully enclosed. All the birds are fine....but there was not ONE SINGLE EGG in the nest box or anywhere in the run. I have 9 hens in there and i cannot believe for a second that they all took a day off

So we have suspected a rat for 2 months but have not caught one. We have a regular chipmunk that goes in to eat the food off the ground, but thats it. A possible rat and a definate chippy. I wonder if my hens learned how to eat eggs today, wouldn't there be a mess so i would know?

ANYONE???????

 

[thechickman04]

i dont know..but the heat has been terrible here and my bantams havent been laying at all..and thats bad because im supposed to be shipping out eggs but i cant make them lay them

 

[JaciesCoop]

Mine have quit laying also. Maybe one egg a day and mostly none for the last week. It must be the temps!

Jacie

 

[lurky]

I set out a hav-a-hart trap with PB and an egg on top tonight

You dont think its odd that the bantams lay more eggs and the big ones just quit all in one day? They are VERY shaded and i gave them fresh ice water and watermelon all through this

Did all your birds stop just like that? no slow down?

 

[amazondoc]

I am JUST guessing here....but it might be that the bantams, having less mass and less feather insulation, may not be as affected by the heat as the big guys. It's possible, anyway!

 

[bantamman13]

It is probably the heat as mine have slowed way down and several have went broody in this heat. Although last year I was not getting many eggs out of 1 nest and finally caught a RIR hen eating a egg and she was hardly leaving any sign of doing so. I would have never thought they could eat a egg and leave no visible signs except a little liquid that dried up quickly but she was doing it.

 

[JaciesCoop]

Mine have all doors and windows open in the coop. A fan in the coop, a turbo on top to take out hot air, ice chunks in the waterers and a mister in the runs and they still just quit laying! The hottest it's been here is 103 but it's a dry heat! LOL! Dry or wet, it's still hot!

 

[lurky]

Thanks for the answers. I was really sure you all would have said the rat (the one i cant see or catch

)
But i think the heat wins it. I think it makes sense too that the bantams may be less affected by being smaller.

 

[Miltonchix]

A rat most likely would have left egg shell laying around.
Its been HOT!!! here for weeks now and my 2 that are laying haven't slowed down at all. Still 2 eggs each and every day. What I find unusual though is my chickens won't touch greens now. I feed them some kind of greens everyday and they'd flip for them. Now they won't touch them. Could be that I'm letting them out for 3 or 4 hours in the evenings?? hmmmmmm......

 

[lurky]

So today when i got home from work i found 13 egss in my standards coop. since i only have 9 layer in the standards i guess i must have had a bunch that were laying last night after the head let up (or the WICKED T-storm scared it out of them) and then some layed a second this afternoon. It still seems odd that it worked out that way for all of them, but at least it was not a rat