Empty Nest: Mystery of the Missing Eggs

Once upon a morning dreary, while I pondered, weak and bleary,
Over many a quaint and curious pile of chicken egg clusters
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a flapping,
As of something gently tapping, tapping at the henhouse door.
“’Tis the wind,” I muttered, yawning, “just the breeze, and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak October,
When each hen’s proud laying number failed to match the week before
Puzzled, pacing, counting, marking; surely some deceit was lurking
Could my mind, perhaps, be shirking? Or was an egg there just before?
Yes, I swore; an egg was gone where an egg had been before!

Even the training eggs! Oh, those orbs of plastic,
Crafted and hollow-hearted, purchased lies from the store
They had moved! Yes, moved, I tell you! Shifted from their nesting venue,
One by one they’d vanish, from box to box and floor to floor
Till at last, without a whisper, none remained forevermore.

We became a little worried that Aurora hadn't laid in the last few days. We were not overly concerned, but it did weigh on our minds. Our confusion grew when the fake eggs we used to train the hens to lay in the nesting box had migrated to the adjacent one. I imagined a particularly dexterous chicken gripping the egg under the wing, or perhaps in their beak, to add to their clutch. It wasn't a completely impossible thing to imagine.

Of course, that isn't what happened. At 8am one morning, as the last of the chickens we let out by the automatic coop door, the camera we have setup in the chicken coop picked up a new movement and automatically began recording. An unexpected guest had arrived; although feathered, but one of our approved feathered friends. Our visitor was a Raven.

On some occasions, the raven had stolen the eggs laid early enough for their breakfast, and others had attempted to break open the impenetrable fake eggs. Failing that, eventually decided to take it away for further inspection. Of our two fake eggs, we found one underneath a nearby tree, but the other is still missing. We don't know how many chicken eggs we lost to the raven. Even so, our egg supply remains in extreme surplus.

Enough was enough! We set about improving our coop defences. It was unlikely we would ever be able to totally prevent access, but we could at least make it a little more difficult. Perhaps that would be enough of a deterrence.

As an added bonus, our new net prevents unauthorised chicken escapes too!