Where did my duck eggs go?

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This is weird, but I was just out checking on my ducks and geese and all my duck eggs are gone. I have a small nesting box next to my pond that my Rouen ducks have started to lay in. There were about 10-12 eggs in there yesterday. Now nothing!....no broken shells in the box, no yolks, no nothing. I checked all over the area and can't find a sign of the eggs. I have 4 goose eggs in a nest about 15 ft away and they were fine. Could a coon do this? The area is well fenced, but I'm sure a coon could get in if they wanted to. Other than a human removing them I'm here scratching my head. Any ideas?

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), March 28, 2001

Answers

Some of the things that have absconded with our eggs are: dogs, ducks, and ravens. The ravens do not leave any trace of their having been there, or any shells. They poke a hole in the egg with their beak and fly off with it, then come back for more. Snakes will also steal eggs, but this has not been a problem for us as we have only small garter snakes.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 28, 2001.

If the weather is warm enough their, I would say snakes. If this is the case try putting a large fish hook in a fresh chicken egg and tie a long strong string to it. Attach it to something heavy. Put the egg in the nest, snake will swallow the egg and he is caught. Guilty snakes get real mad when caught but are easly killed. Using this method you only get the one who committed the nasty crime. At least yours weren't about to hatch mine usually are.

-- jd-tx. (inkina@cctc.net), March 28, 2001.

I had a duck that was sitting on eggs next to the pond. They were only days from hatching, but I checked on them one day and the mama had rolled them into the pond! She didn't seem to want anything else to do with them. I retrieved the eggs and put them under another duck setting in the barn, and surprisingly, some still hatched.

-- Lynne (lynnie70@juno.com), March 28, 2001.

A coon will leave a trail of broken egg shells scattered around,a snake will probably stop afer one or two,I'd vote for a dog on this one. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), March 28, 2001.

Please don't be upset by this question... Have you dug around in the box all the way to the bottom? Ducks love to bury their eggs and if you have a lot of bedding in the box they could just be pushed down into the bottom. I usually have to dig around a lot to make sure I get all the eggs out of a nest. Otherwise, I agree with you and would be thinking it was a raccoon too.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@linkup.net), March 28, 2001.


Thank you all for the comments. Dogs are out as the ducks and geese are behind a 6 ft. fence with a hot wire on top. Long story there, but that was a result of losing all my chickens to a cougar and bobcat this year. No on the snakes, we only have garter snakes and it's so cold and wet out that I doubt a snake could move now. Ravens are a possibility! I know we have crows all over the place here. I've only seen a raven a few times around here. I would think a crow would break the eggs and there would have been shells. I did a search in the water and outside the fence and not a sign. Yes, I did look in the box. I sifted thru the shavings looking for shells or yolks and nothing. I bought a web cam a few months ago thinking I would hook it up by the chicken coop and catch the cougar,bobcat that was killing my chickens. All the chickens are gone now. Maybe I have a egg eating cougar or aliens are taking them. Going to get that cam hooked up!

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), March 28, 2001.

Hi Kent. Bad news. Rats got your duck eggs. Sandy

-- Sandy in MN (jpevans_56353@yahoo.com), March 29, 2001.

Sandy, that might be a possibility also. My neighbors been clearing out a mess of junk at his place and about 2 months ago I had a wave of rats show up. I've killed 14 but haven't seen or trapped one in about a month now. How would a rat move the eggs without breaking them? There was no yolk spilled in the nesting box. I was getting 1-2 duck eggs a day, but nothing the past 3 days. Whatever it is sure likes duck eggs. The goose eggs are about 10 ft away and haven't been touched. I'm going to reset my rat traps and see what I catch.

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), March 30, 2001.

Kent,

Might it be a possum? We've had several in our hen house. You'd be surprised how small an opening they can squeeze through. The goose eggs have a much tougher shell, too much work. We found a goose egg that had been carried or rolled from the barn all the way across the yard and garden. It had claw marks and tooth marks all over it but was not broken.

-- Mona in OK (jascamp@ipa.net), April 04, 2001.


I've caught one rat so far. After my last post I took a look around the chicken coop and I found a hole thru the floor and tunnels coming out from underneath the coop. Luckily I didn't lose any baby chicks. I reset the traps and nothing has touched them for the past 3 nights. I have yet to get another duck egg though, so I don't know if they quit laying or something is still grabbing them. We do have plenty of possums around here, so I'm going to run a hot wire along the base of the fence now. Another wierd thing happened yesterday evening as it was getting dark. As I was opening the gate by my chicken coop I heard a loud hissing sound. My geese were over by the pond, so looking down I saw a bat laying on its back with it's teeth bared hissing like crazy! I don't mind bats around as they eat the bugs, but this one looked messed up so I stomped it. I hated to do that. I know rabbies are rare, but I didn't want to take the chance. I can't wait for the next interesting animal to show up!....

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), April 04, 2001.


I have a pair of Runner Ducks Daisy, my female seemed saddend by somthing, I checked her nest and Her eggs were gone! I flipped a old rabbit hutch, a rat ran out from under and laying there were three broken duck eggs!no sign of broken eggs near the nest. If you Have a compost pile, remove it they attract rats! Or dig it up you may find that there are baby rats in the pile then kill them. I fed them to my ducks!

-- James Manser (Echidna5@aol.com), May 28, 2001.

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