Posted by Jeri Kramer on October 7, 2010 at 7:30pm
About 3 weeks ago my four 2-year-old hens went from providing 3-4 eggs a day to one or none. At first I though that maybe they're getting ready to molt so things slowed down. But they never started looking like they were molting, so then I thought maybe they're started to lay in some undiscovered location. I let them out for several hours everyday, so this was entirely possible. So, the last couples of days I didn't let them out. Yesterday, I saw at least one of them in the laying box and a couple of times I heard the tell-tale announcement of a hen that has just laid. But when I went out in the evening? No eggs. Today, I went out around noon. One of them was in a nesting box and she stood up a bit when I entered the coop. There was definitely at least one egg under her which I left because she was still sitting. When I went out this evening - no eggs! There's no sign of the hens eating the eggs. No messy yoke, no shells, the straw is clean and dry. The coop is too tight to let in something like a coyote (plus I think they'd take a chicken if they got in there). There are small openings in the top of the coop that I've seen bids fly in and out of and we had a problem with roof rats getting in there in the past. Could a rat steal an egg without breaking it? Is there something else that could be stealing them?
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I think skunks steal eggs too and my friend just told me they are having problems with skunks in their neighborhood because people are feeding wild cats and that brings them in. They are nocturnal, though and if your egg disappeared during the day it probably wasn't a skunk.
Keep trapping and close up the holes. :-)
Jeri,
I have four hens too. Their laying has decreased significantly in the past two months, from the point where we were giving our eggs to the neighbors (four, even five egs a day), to having to supplement our egg supply from the grocery store. Only one of my hens showed really noticeable molting, and she hasn't laid eggs for a couple of weeks, but she's also an Easter-egger, and I have heard that their production is low. All of our hens are eating and drinking and appear to be otherwise healthy. We have recently had problems with rats, but I don't see any way they could take eggs from our nesting box. There is too much other yummy stuff out there for the rats to devour with no compunction. The debate still rages as to whether we have pack rats or roof rats. We've taken to removing all food and water from the coop at night, so as not to invite the rats anywhere near where our chickens roost. I don't have any real answers for you in terms of what's happening with your chooks, cause we've only been raising ours for a year as well. Just know that you are not alone with your wondering where all the eggs are!
Anita Mahaffey > Anita MahaffeyOctober 9, 2010 at 3:30pm
Our chickens have never laid an egg at night, as far as I can recall. They usually lay them during the day, and we collect them when we see them, so they don't become soiled or get kicked around by the chickens. If the rats ate the egg in the nesting box, they'd also poop right there, just because they ARE such nasty creatures. Also, Goldie gave us one egg yesterday, and two, today, so I think production is going to start to pick up!
I've thought about the snake option, but we're talking 2 to 3 eggs a day for the last 3 weeks. I don't think snakes can eat that much, unless there's a whole mess of them.. That would be pretty creepy.
I'm also having a hard time picturing how a rat could get a whole egg out of the nesting box and up thru the top corner of the coop (about 6' tall). That said, last night I set a rat trap and caught an awful big rat on the roof of the coop. I'll keep traps out for a few more nights and see if there's more.
Wow. This is weird. Every once in awhile another hen will come push the straw around so much it buries another egg that was already laid, but if the egg is in fact gone..... hmm. A roof rat stealing an egg would seem weird to me, especially getting it out of the nest box, and not breaking it, and they really prefer fruit as far as I understand. I would say snake, except most parts of the valley don't have them. A snake encounter will usually make your chickens quite skittish too.
@Pam How do you know it was roof rats that took your cantaloupe?
I am guessing it was a roof rat (damn them!). Roof rats stole 3 cantalope from my garden, with no residual signs whatsoever.
Think Templeton from Charlotte's Web!
Replies
Keep trapping and close up the holes. :-)
I have four hens too. Their laying has decreased significantly in the past two months, from the point where we were giving our eggs to the neighbors (four, even five egs a day), to having to supplement our egg supply from the grocery store. Only one of my hens showed really noticeable molting, and she hasn't laid eggs for a couple of weeks, but she's also an Easter-egger, and I have heard that their production is low. All of our hens are eating and drinking and appear to be otherwise healthy. We have recently had problems with rats, but I don't see any way they could take eggs from our nesting box. There is too much other yummy stuff out there for the rats to devour with no compunction. The debate still rages as to whether we have pack rats or roof rats. We've taken to removing all food and water from the coop at night, so as not to invite the rats anywhere near where our chickens roost. I don't have any real answers for you in terms of what's happening with your chooks, cause we've only been raising ours for a year as well. Just know that you are not alone with your wondering where all the eggs are!
I'm also having a hard time picturing how a rat could get a whole egg out of the nesting box and up thru the top corner of the coop (about 6' tall). That said, last night I set a rat trap and caught an awful big rat on the roof of the coop. I'll keep traps out for a few more nights and see if there's more.
@Pam How do you know it was roof rats that took your cantaloupe?
Can you cover the holes at the top with hardware cloth?
Think Templeton from Charlotte's Web!