Eggs vanishing with no trace. Need ideas.

[aart]

I dont kill the black snakes as they keep the copper heads away. Plus they are docile and gorgeous. DH is out wrapping things in poultry netting on the hopes a snake will get bound up in it as it tries to pass through.

These two thing may not go together, might not be able to free snake alive if it's tangled in netting.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

I would say snakes or rats. Dogs will too eat eggs whole. If any bigger predators are taking your eggs they would most likely take a chicken too.. Fox and coyote need more then 3 eggs a day.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

What is the trick to putting a game cam in your coop? Will it just fill up with images of your chickens coming and going non stop?

I have 2 game cameras in my coop and area. There is no trick. You will have a bunch of pictures of your birds doing bird things. Since you are having no eggs every day, my guess is that it will only take 2 days for you to see what your egg thief is..

 

[cmom]

I agree...

 

[tn_artist]

Would a snake puke up the shell right near the nest, or leave the coop and puke it a little later? And would it eat 3 large eggs at once? I have seen black snakes in the yard around 6 feet long.

A coworker of mine, that I have bought eggs from, posted a picture on FB of a snake in her coop. It had three large lumps in it from the eggs it had eaten so far.

 

[HH.Wench]

These two thing may not go together, might not be able to free snake alive if it's tangled in netting.

Its just plastic and someone is always around to cut it lose and relocate.

 

[HH.Wench]

I have 2 game cameras in my coop and area. There is no trick. You will have a bunch of pictures of your birds doing bird things. Since you are having no eggs every day, my guess is that it will only take 2 days for you to see what your egg thief is..

Ty, I wondered if it was going to fill up with 100 bird pics right away.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some cameras have different settings as far as how often they take pictures, and how long between them. It's also simple enough to go through pictures and delete them if you get a portable reader like we have to look at the pictures on a SD card.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

@oldhenlikesdogs is right about the camera settings. You can go from a few minutes to take a picture or you can have a picture anytime there is movement. Each camera is different and each brand, but all will have the option. I have Moultrie trail cameras. They have all kinds of options and were extremely easy to set up and they were on the cheaper side of trail cameras. I have extremely clear pictures that come out in color and I have night vision. I am very happy, but there are lots of brands.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

A coworker of mine, that I have bought eggs from, posted a picture on FB of a snake in her coop. It had three large lumps in it from the eggs it had eaten so far.

I've dragged many black rat snakes out of my coop. They are surprisingly docile especially when fat, happy, and digesting a big meal of fresh eggs.

Not sure that was eggs that snake she posted ate though... unless she found that snake right after it ate the eggs. Whether or not you find snakes cool... they are amazingly well adapted and actually crush the eggs inside them right after they eat them. I watched a snake do it in person, eat the egg, wiggle around until it was behind its neck (you know, wherever a snake neck is) and then it tenses way up and you literally hear the egg crush and then boom, you can't even tell there was an egg in there because it all collapses down.

I just sat and watched this snake because it totally was watching me watching it chomp the eggs. We had a moment. And then I put it in a box and dropped it off 15 miles away.