[nermal]

Can anyone help please?
I have 4 older hens and 4 POL pullets just started laying. My hens free range and dutifully return to their house to lay but Magpies have discovered the eggs are easy pickings, breaking open the larger ones and eating in the nest boxes and carrying off the small ones. Any ideas??? :x

[WG.]

I often see dead magpies hung up to ward away others.  Don't know if it works but you could always kill one and try it.

[nermal]

Thanks, know a man who can help me with that, got to be worth a try, haven't had any eggs for more than a week now! Must have some very well fed Magpies though, even Wayne the rooster can't keep them away despite his best efforts!

[alan42]

try smearing english mustard on a couple of eggs the taste can discourage them. this works on chicken egg eaters to blow an egg fill with mustard put a bit of tape over hole to keep it in and put in nest box.
alan

[noodledoo]

Hi i am having the same trouble with my duck eggs being eaten by the pesky magpies. I also have chickens but their coup is high up and they need to go up a ladder to bed or to lay eggs ! so the duck eggs are easy pickings for them. I have been known to dash across the garden at the crack of dawn when hearing the first squak of the magpies to scare them away. Even the sight of me in my dressing gown doesn't scare them. I might try the mustard trick though.

[alan42]

or try plaster of paris eggs that realy sickens them, the magies i mean.
i know that one works with chickens eating there own eggs as i have used it a few times with sucsess.
alan

[barneyowl]

Yes, We have had the same problem with magpies and rooks.  We have resorted to putting netting over the top of part of the coop and only opening the gate to the main orchard for the hens when we have collected that mornings eggs.  We have onother more permanent deterrent also and the theives seem to be getting the message !

[MontyTom]

alan, love the mustard idea.  got a chicken doing that just now - will try it.  thanks.

[Aunt Sally]

I know a number of owners who have had egg eating hens and they are very difficult to stop.  A roll away nest box can help, but  I have always been lead to believe that hens can't taste pepper and mustard.  

There are some quite good ideas on this site:

http://www.plamondon.com/faq_misc.html

Good luck and let us know what worked (or didn't)  :!:

[The Chicken Lady]

I had the same problems with crows afew weeks ago. The chickens had started laying in different places so I blocked all nesting places up and made them lay in their nest boxes. The trouble was the crows started hanging round for hen food and I know that they will take new chicks if given the opportunity. Knowing that my new chicks would be out soon I sent my husband to shoot the offending crows. As he had not used his gun for some years he had several attempts - hiding in various places to catch them. He was the butt of many jokes for days when he returned and although he got the two crows causing the problem it has not had a significant effect on the crow population :roll:

[barneyowl]

I know what you mean about eating all the food.  I feel as if I am feeding all the rooks, crows and magpies for miles.  I go to the door and clap my hands and they rise like a black curtain from the orchard.

I try to put the majority of food into the coop with the netting over the top (to save the eggs as well) but sometime they get in there and get trapped.  Easy then for husband to dispatch them. But what a real nuisance they are.
 
We have 5 day old chicks with mum in an arc so they are quite safe.

[mercury]

Had the same problem for a few weeks now, but a bsa lightening is slowly resolving the matter  

[ssatt44]

I had the same problem last winter.  I went several weeks with no eggs and no explanation.  One morning I went out and found the hen house PLASTERED with black feathers, all eggs accounted for and one very smug rooster.  Best guess was one of the ladies was on the nest when the raven showed up for breakfast. She screamed for help and old Henry cleaned his clock.  He aint been back! If you are allowed a roo, I'd put in a little game type.  One day I heard the "airborn danger call" I checked and saw a small hawk on the roof just watching (prob. after the water). All the girls had  gone for cover under anything handy. The roos were all out in the center, shoulder to shoulder ready for business. The hawk wisely declined. Just a sug.  

sharon in arizona

[Aunt Sally]

Hi sharon - Welcome to the forums

I'd have loved to see your cockerels standing up to a hawk.  Sounds like a proper millitary action  

Lots of us hen keepers in the UK live in dense residential areas and cockerels crowing early in the morning is a no no unfortunatly.

[ssatt44]

Hi Aunt Sally!  Guess you are quite a night bird by the time stamp!  I was stationed in Scotland for 3yrs in the 80's. I remember how small some back gardens were.    Several posts mentioned shooting crows. Can't do THAT in a back garden in Birmingham   . I see you are in Kent. My family came from Ashford in the 1630's.

sharon in arizona