Hi,
My oldest brother has something eating eggs out of his chicken pen. He suspects it to be a skunk or a possum since it hasn't bothered the chickens. We are going to try and trap the thief using ground cantaloupe melon, tainted eggs ground up with premature chicks, (we incubate eggs) and cat food. We may try some of my homemade bait:

2 cans Mackerel

3 eggs

3/4 cup fish oil.


I'll post pictures if we catch anything!
Tight chains,

AuthorTrapper.

How does he know something is eating the eggs? If he is seeing egg shells I bet the chicken are eating them. A possum or skunk would have got a chicken with there egg snack.

I bet that it is a snake if you are not finding Any Shells and pieces, and the chickens are not bothered.

My thought as well.

Snake

My grandpa has a big black snake sucking eggs out of the nest boxes. He drilled a 1.25" hole behind several of the nest boxes. sure enough, the snake slipped in, sucked an egg, weaved his way through the holes and sucked another one. With an "egg knot" on each side of the boards on the wall, the snake was pretty much screwed until Pap cut him in pieces to get him out.

A good trapping plan is to first,identify the animal before deciding what bait and trap to use.A foot trap doesn't work real well on an animal without feet.Just some food for thought.

If you have sandy ground or can sift some,you should already know what you are after.

Might catch a hungry homeless person.

Have him watch the chickens close. He. will see the egg eater or eaters. Eliminate/eat them the problem will be gone. Have raised chickens for 40 years, you will always catch one eating eggs as they get older. I replace layers every year. Production will fall off after the 1st year/molt and egg eating begins.

Yes, he does close the door on the pen. The pen is built like Alcatraz but the critter managed to dig under the fence. My brother said that there would be a bite taken out of 1/2 of the eggs if he didn't pick them up every day.
Well, he (my brother) called today and said we have a skunk! If I get pics, I'll post them.
Thanks, for the replies!
AuthorTrapper.

LOL, Gotta love it!

Well, I wasn't able to get a picture, folks! Sorry about that!