What is stealing my eggs?

[Chickenkeeper23]

I opened up my coop this morning and there were broken eggs in and outside the nesting box and my girls did not want to come down from roosting so I’m guessing it happened recently enough to spook them? It was light outside and there coop was locked so I’m not sure what could have made it in and out?

- there is ventilation windows about 4 feet off the ground and covered in chicken wire, upon inspection the wire is still intact no teeth marks or anything

- we have also been having a bad skunk problem in my neighborhood but I have seen snakes but figured they would of swallowed the eggs whole

 

[Hungry Chicken]

That is so strange! One (not very likely, just throwing it out there) possibility could be that the girls ate their eggs. We've had such problems before and that could be confirmed if there's yolk on their feathers. Although my chickens ate the entire egg, shell included.

Another more likely possibility, considering coop is locked and wire intact, is that some rodent of sorts dug a tunnel below the chicken wire and got in that way. More probable considering the girls are spooked. You could check if there's anything odd outside the coop (tunnels/digging/etc.), or if there is any other place something could have slipped in. Best of luck figuring it out!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Chicken wire = a surprisingly long list of predators. If you had said Hardwire cloth, 1/2 inch gauge wire I might be stumped but chicken wire is not proper predator proofing for a coop. Can you replace it ??

 

[SamLockwood]

Probably rats or mice. They can slip through chicken wire, as can snakes and members of the weasel family. It's not a snake because they swallow the eggs whole, and if it was a weasel it would have killed your chickens instead.

 

[aart]

1/2 inch gauge wire

This^^^ is misleading.
1/2" openings with with 19ga wire is the size of most the Hardware Cloth used by folks here.

Probably rats or mice.

Ditto Dat!
Most chicken wire has holes 1" from flat to flat,
but 2" is a possibility too.

 

[Chickenkeeper23]

I’m wondering if it was a rodent, there coop is completly enclosed including the bottom

 

[Chickenkeeper23]

I don’t think it was my girls though I didn’t notice any on there beaks and they have gotten eggs before and usually there isn’t much left

 

[Hungry Chicken]

I’m wondering if it was a rodent, there coop is completly enclosed including the bottom

Maybe try setting up some mouse traps to see if it helps