Wild Birds eating chickens eggs

dozy doctor

Hi,

Not sure if to many of you have this problem, but I have seen small birds of different variety's in my chicken run... and When I have gone to check the eggs have found that they have been eaten...

Does anyone else experience this problem and if you have did you manage to stop the wild birds from eating the eggs?

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

Kovu

The smaller birds wouldn't be eating the eggs, it's the likes of magpies or crows that have learned the trick of cracking them.
First thing I'd do is make sure it's a wild bird and not a rogue chicken of your own that's eating them. You could find out by shutting the hens in for a day and seeing if you get any eggs that day. If that doesn't solve it, you can either birdproof the run from the wild birds (chicken wire over the open top etc) or make up a way of deterring them. CD's tied up so they swing or a decoy hawk work quite well.

dozy doctor

Kovu wrote: »

The smaller birds wouldn't be eating the eggs, it's the likes of magpies or crows that have learned the trick of cracking them.
First thing I'd do is make sure it's a wild bird and not a rogue chicken of your own that's eating them. You could find out by shutting the hens in for a day and seeing if you get any eggs that day. If that doesn't solve it, you can either birdproof the run from the wild birds (chicken wire over the open top etc) or make up a way of deterring them. CD's tied up so they swing or a decoy hawk work quite well.

Cheers for the reply...
It is definetly finches eating the eggs, but u have just reminded me that I have smaller chiken wire somewhere that will work well and stop the feckers getting in...

Thanks again...

Kovu

Oh! I never heard of finches getting at eggs before. Guess you learn something new every day so cheers for that heads up too!:)

aonb

Im amazed that FINCHES have learned to break the shells too. Knew magpies/crows etc are pesky egg-eaters....

Are your hens laying in nest boxes in the coop? Are the finches going IN to the coop?

I have a net over the top of my run to keep the big birds out - the small birds can get in through the smallest holes in the netting.

What you could try is to tilt the nesting box, or put something in to the nesting box to cause it to tilt. Then eggs will then (in theory) ROLL AWAY to the back of the box, where you have a space that they drop down in to. This kind of system is used when hens are eating their own eggs or to keep eggs clean. If you are anyway handy you could make something up yourself - here are some pictures of what I mean:

https://www.maceoinltd.com/rollaway-plastic-nest-box-chickens/

http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/Rollaway_Nest_Box_Inserts.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWuAz0NsE9Y

dozy doctor

aonb wrote: »

Im amazed that FINCHES have learned to break the shells too. Knew magpies/crows etc are pesky egg-eaters....

I was quite amazed as well, but it is definitely the finches... Even though the chicken run is fully covered with chicken wire, the size of the holes are to big and the finches were able to fly in and then fly into the coop and eat the eggs....

aonb wrote: »

Are your hens laying in nest boxes in the coop? Are the finches going IN to the coop?

Unfortunately YES.....

aonb wrote: »

I have a net over the top of my run to keep the big birds out - the small birds can get in through the smallest holes in the netting.

I have now covered the entire run again with a net to keep birds off of vegetables and fryuit so that seems to have solved the problem... If the issue still persists I will look at getting a roll away box which looks like a great idea...

Many thanks for the tips

Victor

Get a fake (or real) cat.

duckysauce

Victor wrote: »

Get a fake (or real) cat.

will a cat not kill the chickens ?? chicken wire would make more sense

dozy doctor

duckysauce wrote: »

will a cat not kill the chickens ?? chicken wire would make more sense

No... It could be because they are so big but have two cats already and a dog and they can be in the same area and never even attempt to attack the chickens..

In fact they are all really friendly towards each other.

I guess it is because they are all a part of the same family...

But on the other Hand if another cat came into the back garden, the dog would go ballistic...

Victor

duckysauce wrote: »

will a cat not kill the chickens ?? chicken wire would make more sense

If using a real cat, it would be outside the fence. I'm not sure the wild birds will realise that the cat can't get through the fence.

aonb

we have wild and neighbours cats passing through our property all the time - they pretty much ignore the hens - and the hens ignore them. I now have my first cat (a rescue) and she ignores them too. I think it would have to be a very large Tom cat, to worry a hen? (We have terriers, but they dont bother the hens either )

_Brian

We had awful trouble with Mags last year.. feckers were either carrying away the eggs or breaking them in place.. I'm wondering if the mags are breaking them and the finches are just eating them once broken..

I borrowed a Larsen trap and caught/dispatched 13 Mags.. Feckers !!

aonb

a neighbour who was having a problem with birds taking/eating eggs in the coop, has hung a black bin liner just inside the coop door - the hens just push past it to get at the nest boxes, but it deters wild birds. Might be worth a try? (it has the added advantage of making the coop nice and dark for the laying hens)

FirstinLastout

You could always try planting a sabotaged egg in the coop.
Blow an egg and fill with mustard and place it back in the coop for the offending birds to find.
Used this successfully with magpies on more than a few occasions.