I have a broody Brahma hen who was sitting on 11 wild turkey eggs for me in the chicken coop. I noticed one egg outside the wine crate she sits in and picked her up to check eggs. There were only 5 under her. Where did the other 6 go? I haven't noticed any other eggs missing and once in a while I forget to bring them in and they are there overnight. No one has been attacked or anything. There are no shells in the litter. who's eating the eggs?
I thought about a snake, but it would have to be an awfully BIG snake to eat turkey eggs. (I won't say that out loud in front of my husband or he will never go in the coop again.) I haven't noticed any holes around the coop or run. It's too tight for anything bigger than a skinny weasle to get in . Anybody have any ideas?
I moved her to an empty rabbit pen so she and the 5 eggs will be safe. It's not that I really WANT baby wild turkeys, but it is what I do (taking care of wildlife) and I really felt obligated when the old farmer with a broken arm retrieved the eggs after he ran over Mom.
Your guess is as good as mine, missing eggs
I think your idea of the snake is a good one. Snakes can easily swallow eggs that are bigger around than they are. However it sounds like the snake would then be too fat to exit the coop?
Thanks for the wildlife rescue work, there need to be more of you folks.
Yep, snakes can consume a lot of eggs and you would be surprised how they can get out even after eating them.
I think it's just inflation...Hay
Ok, I don't know about snakes, but I was going to do a post about chickens eating eggs. (If you don't mind)
My Beautiful Marans started to lay the most wonderful dark eggs. I am the envy of all my chicken friends! The problem is that because of my dominate hen (Americuna) they are not allowed in the nesting boxes. She chases them out. (any help with that problem would be appreciated!) Anyhow, I put a cat carrier on the bottom of the coop Avery for them to lay their eggs. All was good, until one day I caught my Brahma, eating one of the eggs! I try to get to the coop in time to get the eggs, but I don't always know when they are going to lay.
I used one of the Marans eggs (pained me to do so) and put mustard and tabasco sauce in it to discourage her. She really did not like that egg. But I only did it once. Should I keep that up? Any other suggestions?
Sometimes egg eating is due to boredom or not enough space. Are you throwing them enough scraps to peck at? Do they have plenty of space?
Also adding protien may help. We sometimes throw ours a little chick starter to boost protien. Also if they don't get enough calcium they eat the eggs to get the calcium from the shells. Do you give them calcium?
We have some that started eating eggs and we got them a poultry block, it's a big square block of all sorts of seed and stuff for the chickens to peck at and eat, we found it at our local Tracor Supply. The egg eating stopped.
Sometimes it is very hard to stop them from eating the eggs. Hope you can find the thing that will deter her so she quits eating them because the others may decide to join in.