Chicken issue!- poss related to the chicken/egg/squirrel thread!

[poiuytrewq]

Ive been meaning to post anyway but just saw the thread someone else has put on here re. a egg stealing squirrel. I dont *think* this is our problem, I think its crows for us. I have never seen a squirrel about.

We have 5 hens all of which laid daily (what ever the weather) until about a month back. Suddenly we get no eggs at all, ever.
They are eating far far more than ever- rediculous amounts of layers pellets and anything else i chuck in there and never an egg!

They live at my yard so i let them out in the morning and shut them in at night when i used to collect the 4 or 5 eggs.
I had a rare day off work recently and was at the yard in the morning when i heard the noise of eggs being laid so stuck my head in and sure enough throughout the morning they all went inside and laid.
I left the eggs out of interest and by evening all were gone and so was the feeder id filled.
Ive seen crows take eggs when ive collected them and left on the mounting block to take home but would they go in the shed?
Im now buying eggs and massive amounts of chicken food which is a tad annoying so any idea's would be great.

I like the suggestion of the place for eggs to roll to but am unsure as to how i would do that. They have a small garden shed with perches but lay in shavings on the floor.

 

[Fides]

Is there a footpath? I've had walkers nosying in my coop so now have a padlock!

 

[Lynsey&Smartie]

Crows go in my chicken house and steal the eggs, just walk in through the pop hole bold as brass! The only thing that stopped it was covering the top of the enclosure with netting but we had to take that down last year so it started again. They have never been that bothered about the chicken food though, they might take the extras we put in e.g. bread or pasta but not the layers pellets. Rats will also take or eat eggs and will empty the feeder.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I've had problems with crows as well-they went inside a duck house that had a broody on 10 eggs in and had the lot. Poultry forums are full of people complaining about them this year. They also help themselves to pellets via my spring feeder.

They will go inside a shed if they have a clear entrance to go in and out, if the hens don't already have a pop-hole in the shed door, that will help-crows don't like going into dark spaces (the duckhouse has a big door and they could reach inside). Rats will also take eggs, and magpies.

laying may have decreased if they are starting to moult? some breeds don't moult dramatically, just the odd few feathers-some lose their knickers overnight and have an uncomfortable couple of weeks.

eta-I've not had them go through a pop-hole yet, obviously lucky on that front!

 

[Suelin]

Magpies,, dreadful thieves. We are having a problem with them as I type this. Also a rat will steal and egg, I've seen them do it.

 

[Honey08]

Could it be rats? We had them eating all our feed when it was inside the coop. It would tie in with the amount of feed they're eating going up too.

It was me that suggested the rollaway thing. I've never actually seen one, but I think you'd need the floor of the nesting boxes or slope towards a gap at the back of the box, then a lower floor sloping the other way so that the eggs roll out of sight?

 

[poiuytrewq]

I'm pretty certain it's not rats. My o/h is a bit obsessive about his "bait points" around the place and we have certainly never seen a rat or any signs of rats.
The door is fairly large and propped open all day so I will try and block that leaving a smaller access for the hens and see if that helps.
We have visiting ducks who might be the culprit on the food front. I've seen them eating from the feeders but haven't noticed them around at all recently.
I also should have mentioned I find smashed eggs when I'm poo picking around the fields which was another thing that made me wonder at birds.
We do have a footpath sadly but it's at the far end of the paddocks and I rarely see anyone use it. Also my hens run backs onto someone's garden who I'm quite sure would mention daily egg removing visitors (I hope!)

 

[LovesCobs]

I covered the top if the run with black mesh stuff, crows now leave them alone, food and eggs (though the spaniel jumps up and nicks an egg after I've collected them ....)

 

[poiuytrewq]

I can't cover the top really as it's huge! I did however as a temporary experiment put a wheelie bin Infront of the door leaving only a little "chicken" gap and got 2 eggs a big improvement

 

[Casey76]

Martens, mink and weasels also take eggs.

Could you have a broody who is squirreling the eggs away?

 

[bakewell]

We put a sack curtain over our door with a small corner cut off. Kept the henhouse darker and cooler and the hens figured out to push through at the corner. Took them a few hours but they managed.
We also used lidded feed buckets as nest boxes. with half the lid cut out. They loved these and they were great to disinfect/ throw away. If you mounted these at an angle (we just nailed them to stuff) it'd be easy to cut a hole at the back and place a receptacle there.

 

[cobgoblin]

Magpies and crows will steal eggs but usually break them so you find egg yolk. They will also eat the feed as will pigeons etc.
Chickens are very good at hiding piles of eggs at this time of year, and they will all lay on the same pile. If there is anywhere at all that they have access to that has even a bit of cover I would have a good look.

 

[poiuytrewq]

The sack curtain is a good plan and will look less scruffy than current wheelie bin
I had two eggs yesterday again so it's improved with the partial door block.
I will have a good hunt round the run and see if I can find any eggs. I see broken ones round the place when I'm poo picking but not in their run just out across the fields.