Caught a Thief

[Woodhunter]

Feathered type.

Built a chicken coop and stocked it with 7 hens.

Man door to the run outside with a 12" by 18" chicken door at the bottom of the man door, hinged at the top so I could close the chicken door if needed.

Three nesting boxes inside the coop.  Put a ceramic dummy egg in each to encourage laying.  Left the man door open.

Two days later the cereamic eggs are gone.

Put three more ceramic eggs in the boxes, closed the man door, opened the chicken door.

One day later the three ceramic eggs are gone.

Hmm.   Cannot be racoons, skunks, or possums, the three big guard dogs sleep next to the coop.

So, set up the trail cam and put two real eggs in the boxes.   Ceramic eggs are $3.00 each.    Real eggs are cheaper.

One egg gone this morning, the second egg gone just after noon.

Pulled the trail cam card and guess what:



Note the egg shell in the feeder.

There are several more photos of big black bird, one with egg in beak, but it is real dim.   


So now it is off the the feed store for plastic bird mesh to hang across the 6 foot high fencing of the run.

[JimmyHoffa]

Find any of the porcelain eggs?  They like to take things like clams and walnuts and drop them in the road, hoping to break them or have a car crush them.

[Woodhunter]

Find any of the porcelain eggs?  They like to take things like clams and walnuts and drop them in the road, hoping to break them or have a car crush them.

Naw been looking in the orchard and under the powerlines out front.  They hang around across a creek behind the barn, maybe 300 yards away, so the fake eggs could be anywhere.  Lots of timber and brush. 

[HighlandLofts]

We are building houses up in Anacortes and there are a bunch of crows that hang out where we are working.
I have been feeding the crows cheap bread for about six months, occasionally I will tale other stuff to give them. They take a wide array of food items. When my chickens started to lay I took eggs and set them out on the above ground electric box and watched to crows take them. They would pick.them up with their beak and fly off about 10 to fifteen feet to the ground and then peck them to break them and then eat them. Most of the time they eat the shell as well.

When my rabbits had their little ones I had a dead baby rabbit, I put in on the electric box and they picked it up flew about 20 feet and started eating it at the head end. Once it had the babby rabbit half eat it carted it off.

I caught some half grown rats and set them out, same senerio as the baby rabbit.
They know when I pull in every morning, one of them will come close to where ever I go until I put something out for them.

I gave them all kinds of table scraps. Once I picked up a road killed raccoon and they eat on it for a few days then stopped eating on it so I threw it in the trash.

You'd be surprised the size of the items they can carry off on their beaks.
 
That picture you posted is a raven, they are probably half again the size of a crow.

[Woodhunter]

Yea I know it is a raven, the guy is bigger than the darn chickens!   We have lots of ravens around here, fun to watch but they can be a pest.

Feeding crows is not good.   You are training them to be a pest.

[pianoman9701]

If you can kill a crow and hang him by the coop, the raven won't come back. I knew a guy in Holland who had a duck sanctuary behind his house. The crows would come eat the duck eggs. He did this and solved the problem. They have a great memory and will warn other ravens about the location, as well.

[SpurInSpokane]

Here's a tip to save money on lost eggs: instead of ceramic eggs, around easter time, you can buy a 6-pack of chalk eggs that work just as well, for like $3/ 6-pack.
They'll be pastel colors, but the chickens don't care, and they'll get pecked up a bit, but they last a long time.  Plus you can tell who's been pecking eggs by the color on their beak

[lokidog]

Had these jerks stealing eggs from me as well this summer.  Puts a dent in your egg supply when you have less than five hens.   

[dhjnesommer]

We use golf balls which are way cheaper than ceramic eggs.  Netting should help too.

[lokidog]

We use golf balls which are way cheaper than ceramic eggs.  Netting should help too.

I've never seen a need for fake eggs, the hens seem to know what to do. I free-range during the day, well at night also now that I am down to 2 hens mand they won't go in the coop at night any more, the ravens go through a fence door and then the small coop door to get to the eggs.

[bearpaw]

Not surprised a raven figured out there are eggs to be had, it is my firm belief that ravens destroy more turkey clutches than any other predator in NE WA. They fly through the trees looking for nesting hens, once a hen is spotted they start squaking and pretty soon several ravens are dive bombing the hen trying to get her to move so they can get the clutch. Anyone who has turkey hunted much has probably noticed broken egg shells laying randomly that are empty, that's most likely from Ravens.

[Humptulips]

Always a bunch of ravens and crows around here. They can be entertaining.
Once I had rendered out a bunch of otter fat for shoe grease and had about 5 gallons of cracklings I set out in the yard for them. They descended on it  and soon had their fill and were packing it off and hiding it. A raven would fly off with a piece not far and then start searching for a hiding place. Walk around for a while, finally poke it in the ground and put some grass or moss over it. As soon as he flew off to get some more another would swoop in and rob his cache and go through the whole looking for a hiding spot again. Once hid another would steal it. I watched some of those cracklings get moved a dozen times.

[Woodhunter]

I am thinking the hens have been laying but the Ravens have been getting the eggs.   They are sneaky  critters, never see them near the coop but the eggs just do not show up.    Looks like they are watching when we go to the barn and hid up in the fir trees.  Only cure is netting which goes up in  a couple of days.

[b0bbyg]

I feel lucky this has not happened to me, used to throw the bad eggs on a scrap heap 20' from the chickens coop. Every morning the Raven would cruise by and take any eggs I tossed out, but never went into the coop.

We have always had a rooster, not sure if that would make a difference 

[lokidog]

I am thinking the hens have been laying but the Ravens have been getting the eggs.   They are sneaky  critters, never see them near the coop but the eggs just do not show up.    Looks like they are watching when we go to the barn and hid up in the fir trees.  Only cure is netting which goes up in  a couple of days.

They are smart, won't come around if two vehicles are in the driveway, but will with only one there.