Ceramic , salty, plastic and netting nothing stops egg losses.greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread |
HELP!! I think I have figured out who/what is taking my eggs. I think it is raccoons!! Nothing is keeping them out of the pen. I have the fencing buried, the top I thought was taken care of...I have used salt filled eggs, taco seasoning filled eggs etc...I have lost 5 eggs in one hour so far today, I can't seem to be able to keep them out of the pen. They are sneaky things and have been taking my eggs for 3 mths now.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 22, 2000
Sounds like a good excuse to hang out with a .22 or .45 or sumpthin'. Bet their pelts would be nice and thick and shiny; eggs are what they used to feed dog for shiny fur.
-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), October 22, 2000.
Hey! In my concern about the eggs, I forgot I could get me some nice pelt!!! Thanks for reminding me!!!
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 22, 2000.
5 eggs in 1 hour? Is this during the day? Racoons I thought usally came out at night. Are sure its not the chickens? If your egg thief is this active I would get a video camera (borrow,rent) and set it up. Then you will know who your egg thief is.
-- Mark (deadgoatman@webtv.net), October 22, 2000.
you can always trap them, I get 2 a week. Get a connibear trap # 220,, notch a 5 gal bucket so it cover the front,, put some bait in there, its all set. I found that chicken bones work great.
-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 22, 2000.
Live trap also works. Use sardines for bait. You may end up with skunk, neighbors cat, dog, possum,bobcat.Who knows. Thats why we went to live trap. Can release something we didn't want to kill.Heck, we even release the raccoons, just way up river in the middle of nowhere,so they can't find their way back. We let the coonhound run it, for training.If you've owned hounds, you do love the sound of them doing their stuff.
-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), October 22, 2000.
What would the chickens be doing to the eggs? I have only ducks and guineas in this pen, my chickens aren't old enough to lay and they are a long ways away from this pen. I put out more eggs after those disappeared,but a storm moved in, so no eggs have come up missing yet. I want to put a camera out there, I just need to get mine repaired.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 22, 2000.
What do you do with the raccoons after you catch them? Any ideas what else could be taking them? It always happens in broad daylight, in the afternoon. We had a monkey out here for a while, it was stealing all my fruit, but I have not seen signs of it for a few weeks now.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 22, 2000.
You had a monkey running loose? Where on earth do you live, Cindy? I didn't know they were indigenous to Oklahoma! Maybe the monkey's owner has it trained to steal your eggs! You asked what the chickens would be doing to the eggs--they eat them, shell and all. Good luck, and let us know when you find the culprit! Jan
-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), October 23, 2000.
"Don't you know you gotta SHOCK the monkey!" Or coon, or neighbors very quick child, dog, possum, or whatever. A monkey!!!LOL!!!PETA activity near you in tropical Oklahoma?
-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), October 23, 2000.
I'm thinking maybe you have a two legged variety of egg stealer. Got any neighborhood kids that might be playing a prank? It's strange that your creature steals eggs in nice weather and makes off with five in one day! When my chickens eat eggs there is some egg white visable on the floor of the next.
-- (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), October 23, 2000.
I put an electric fence around my coop and it kept out alot of unwanted animals. Can you imagine if a neighborhood kid is taking the eggs and doesn't know about electric fences? Zapp!
-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), October 23, 2000.
:-) We do have a monkey! I called the local zoo and asked them if they had one missing and they do not. They said it sounded like a garden monkey. It could be my neighbor beside me. I can see him training anything to steal the eggs. He bought chickens right after I got mine and all of his died....hhhmm. Who knows. We are "staking out the place" tomorrow. The kids windows face the bird pen so we are planting eggs in the pen and will take turns staring at the pen to see what happens to the eggs. I thought about the ducks eating them,but they choke easy and we never find broken shells or anything. I have wondered about two legged variety, but never see footprints.. Today I found one of the plastic eggs across the street, broken open, taco seasoning still inside..what ever is getting them, wasn't happy with that egg! lol I will keep you all posted on what is going on with my eggs. :-)
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 24, 2000.
It could indeed be your chickens that are eating the eggs. I have actually caught mine in the act. Once one starts, the others all join in and you get NO eggs at all. I have found that there's usually a ringleader and if you can figure out who it is (observe closely - I rolled an egg across the coop floor and one of my hens jumped right on it) and cull her, the egg eating stops.
-- Diana Marlowe-Newman (newman@wapa.gov), October 25, 2000.
Ok, I realized I was being wrong on something I kept saying (brain fog or something..) anyway, I have two roosters, it is my guinea eggs that are coming up missing. I had bought 10 chicks and was hoping to have hens, nope...so I have been eating the roosters. I have bought HENS, but they are still chicks and not laying yet and not even near this pen. We caught the rooster with shells on his face, but watching him, he has not eaten another one. The one that was caught had his beak on a feed covered empty shell. It had been raining very hard and that egg was covered with feed from where my daughter fed them in the bed trap. Anyway, today, we watched the eggs, then stopped for lunch, went back to look and they were all gone. :-( Could one rooster eat them in just a few minutes? The guineas are very protective of these store bought eggs, and so are the female ducks. When I went out yesterday to put the eggs in, I heard raccoon griping sounds. I stepped back from the guinea house, the griping stopped. I stepped forward..heard it again..yet we see no raccoon foot prints even in this wet ground. The mystery continues....ugh, I will keep you posted. It will probably turn out to be our pet rooster, he is so funny. I hope to find it is something else.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.
Well, I feel like crying. We found the culprits. Not only is it the pet rooster, but all the guineas and a girl duck. We feed them extra calcium...I know we planned on eating most of the birds, but I hadn't planned on eating these birds. I am allergic to chicken eggs and wanted something different. *sigh* I guess I will plan a freezer day soon....
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.
I read that if you darken the nest box, by hanging cloth in front of it, they can't see inside well enough to eat the eggs. Wouldn't hurt to try a couple of solutions other than freezer day, if you want to keep these birds. I've read others but can't remember them right now. Maybe someone else on the forum can help more.
-- Laura Jesnen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), October 26, 2000.
I have been thinking about making a pen for just this rooster. He is too pretty and nice to freeze.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.
Keep in mind this is coming from a girl with no chickens... what about the nest boxes that slant back so the eggs roll away from the birds. They can't reach them, and you collect them from a trap door in the back, from the outside. Worth thinking about.
-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), October 26, 2000.
HHHHMMM my whole post didn't show up. I had added in my last post that the guineas (which is what I am having trouble losing the eggs from) don't right now, lay in any particular spot every time. They have about 5 spots that they lay in, none of which I chose for them. We tried the nesting box (I do want to make slanted boxes) and they wouldn't lay in them. I have my new chick hens that I have put in a seperate pen hoping that we won't lose those eggs once they start laying. Anyone have any idea when ducks will lay eggs? I have ducks in the same pen as the guineas and the one rooster. They are 5 mths old. The reason ...in case anyone is wondering...that I only have the rooster and no big hens right now ....is because I bought chicks straight run and every single one of them were roosters, most of my ducks were drakes...just my luck. *sigh* So, I ordered pullets this time and they are the ones in the seperate pen.
-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000.