Eggs being stolen even the false ones

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Eggs being stolen even the false ones
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Kommando

Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Posts: 8
Location: Ayrshire

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 3:33 pm Post subject: Eggs being stolen even the false ones

Got 7 hens who are locked up overnight in an enclosure with a coop, during the day the enclosure is opened and they are free to roam which they do. They are hand me down Black Rocks and went into moult last oct and started coming back into lay on Jan 1st. I put 3 golf balls in the nest box to train them where to lay but they dissappeared, not sure how many hens eggs have gone missing but there are no signs of broken egg shells in the coop or the enclosure. Yesterday mid morning I put 2 new false eggs in after collecting 3 eggs, this morning I collected an egg and the 2 false eggs were still there and later a hen went in to lay so left it undistrubed for couple of hours. When I went back there were no hens eggs and no false ones either. We are in the middle of the countryside and have lots of wildlife about, any ideas on how to protect the eggs without the hens losing access to the garden and fields.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 3:42 pm Post subject:
I have had pot eggs knicked by badgers before.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 3:43 pm Post subject:
I've heard that hanging a chain down in front of the pop-hole can put a badger or fox or magpie or whatever off from going through it - they are intelligent enough to think 'Oh, that's odd, it might be a trap'. Never tried it myself, though.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 3:44 pm Post subject:
Crows would be my best bet. We have a golf course about a mile from us and we find golf balls abandoned all over our place. The crows drop them from a great height when they realise that the yolks on them and not in what they think are eggs.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45524
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 3:48 pm Post subject:
crows maybe ,magpies maybe ,dog ?

Kommando

Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Posts: 8
Location: Ayrshire

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 4:13 pm Post subject:
Crows makes sense, have loads of them about and if we are not about they are in the garden eating the bird food on the floor underneath the feeders. Just put a false egg in a rat trap next to the coop door, hens can't get into it, wonder if a crow could. Don't have any badgers locally but do have grey tree rats and foxes, too far away from neighbours for dogs so that just leaves the sheep

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45524
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 4:36 pm Post subject:
sheep are capable of anything

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 4:37 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

sheep are capable of anything

Sheep are mad.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45524
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 4:50 pm Post subject:
and bad and dangeroos to know corvids seems likely

matt_hooks

Joined: 01 Aug 2010
Posts: 312
Location: Lambourn(ish) Berkshire

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 5:31 pm Post subject:
If you want a bit of pure escapism, I recommend the film "Black Sheep" it's utterly brilliant! Back on topic, it sounds like it's got to be something winged! I'd suggest the chickens might be eating their own eggs, but I can't see them chowing down on golf balls!

Kommando

Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Posts: 8
Location: Ayrshire

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 6:21 pm Post subject:
Working on crows being the culprit so a inflatable toy 3 ft tall is going in the enclosure tomorrow hanging from the roof plus a cover on the full sized door to leave a hen sized gap on the bottom, if that fails its a human sized cardboard cutout. Will have to wait until April and the sheep are gone before risking 'Black Sheep' looks scary !!!! LOL

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9717
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 6:29 pm Post subject:
i've heard of squirrels nicking pot eggs, along with real ones

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45524
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 7:10 pm Post subject:
possible

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 11 8:21 pm Post subject:

colour it green wrote:

i've heard of squirrels nicking pot eggs, along with real ones

Ditto, & rats will.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9717
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Jan 18, 11 10:31 am Post subject:

Tavascarow wrote:

colour it green wrote:

i've heard of squirrels nicking pot eggs, along with real ones

Ditto, & rats will.

yes thats true -rats take the eggs off whole..

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