If you are planning to keep chicken in your backyard or you are a beginner and observe that a few chicken eggs are missing daily from the coop, actually the missing eggs are eaten by the animals.
In this article, I will discuss which animals eat your chicken eggs and will also discuss the tricks to prevent these animals from eating and taking eggs from your chicken coop.
Animals that steal and Eat Chicken Eggs
Egg-eating animals and birds can be found on land and as well as in the sky. They can steal and eat eggs from your chicken coop and even can kill your young chickens as well. Below are the possible egg-eating animals that may penetrate your chicken’s coop and eat chicken eggs.
Snakes Eat Chicken Eggs
Snakes usually come near the chicken coop because of the search for rats, in the searching of rats if they did not find the rats in the coop then they will eat the eggs and young chicken as well because snakes are opportunistic they will not miss the chance if they get an easy food.
If you want to save your chickens and eggs from snakes, clear all the bushes, grass, and other branches near the coop, because snakes usually don’t like to come in open areas.
Rats Eat Chicken Eggs
Rats are the most common problem in chicken coops because rats are famous for stealing eggs from the chicken coop. Rats usually make a hole in the coop and drag all the eggs from the coop with the help of their teeth.
Skunks Eat Chicken Eggs
Skunks have a digging ability, they steal the eggs from the chicken eggs and dig them into the ground and eat. To protect your chicken coop from the skunks, soak a rag in ammonia and place the rag on metal because ammonia smells like predator urine and this technique will scare skunks.
Coyotes Eat Chicken Eggs
Coyotes are found all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Coyotes are omnivores, they eat plants, fruits, and small mammals like rabbits, mice, birds, and chicken eggs as well.
The only way to protect your chicken coop from coyotes is to secure the coop properly with strong welded wires so they can not break the coop.
Crows Eat Chicken Eggs
Crows are very clever and cunning birds, they always fly in groups. They will steal the food from other animals such as rats, squirrels, and the chicken coop. Crows can spot chicken eggs from afar and will pick up chicken eggs with the help of their beak.
The best way to stop crows from stealing chicken eggs is by creating a ceiling with wire, this ceiling will prevent crows from coming down to the coop and stealing eggs.
Do Chickens Eat Their Own Egg?
Just like other egg-stealing animals we talked about earlier, some chickens may end up eating their own eggs. This can happen when they don’t get enough nutrients or when they develop a liking for the tasty yolk. Once they start eating their eggs, they might continue doing it regularly.
Identifying the chicken responsible for eating eggs can be a daunting task when you have a large flock in the coop. Daily observation and monitoring of their behavior are necessary.
However, a simple and effective method to pinpoint the culprit is by examining their beak and neck. If any of the chickens are consuming eggs, you’ll notice distinct yellow yolk spots on their beak and neck.
This method helps in quickly identifying the chicken responsible for this behavior.
How To Stop A Chicken From Eating Its Own Eggs?
After you found the main culprit that eats eggs, there are some modifications you need to do by which somehow you can reduce the egg-eating problem.
Check the nest box daily and remove the eggs from the nest timely, because if they crack the old eggs and once the chicken tastes the yolk, then she will start eating eggs regularly.
Diet is the key factor for all living things, sometimes chicken face problems or insufficient calcium and protein in their diet so they start eating eggs because the egg is a natural source of calcium and protein. So it’s better to feed them a diet full of calcium and protein like crushed oyster shells and mealworms.
Placing fake eggs under that chicken will also save the eggs from eating by chickens because they are hard and cannot be breakable by the chicken’s beak. The chicken will try to crack it with her beak for some days, and after some days she will give up eggs altogether.
How To Secure Chickens And Eggs From Predators?
To protect your chicken eggs, you need to make a predator-proof chicken coop and roof your chicken coop properly to prevent flying and climbing predators from getting inside the coop.
If you have any broken holes in your chicken coop, repair all the holes so you can get rid of all predators like snakes and rats.
Secure the door of the coop with a proper lock that cannot easily open, because some predators like coyotes are intelligent they can open a simple lock, two step locking will help you to protect chickens and eggs from predators.
Install a motion light that can help to secure your coop, because a motion light will scare the predators coming near the coop.