magpies eating hens eggs

[multi power]

having trouble with magpies going into hen house n eating eggs, any ideas please?

 

[cletracboy]

shoot or trap them

 

[llamedos]

Blow one and fill it with mustard

 

[Recoil]

How big is the door? Wonder if they'll go in through a small pop hole?

 

[multi power]

How big is the door? Wonder if they'll go in through a small pop hole?

they are going in a small pop hole, its abought the height of a hen, did help at first when i reduced the size but they just learned they can still get in
do you have nests that the eggs roll away? was thinking that may help

 

[Recoil]

No, our eggs don't roll away but that would probably help. We have a full size door, but don't have any magpie problems touch wood. When we get hens eating the eggs we put mustard in a few eggs like mentioned above. That usually stops them. A trap wouldbe a good idea too if you have one or could borrow one.

 

[Flossie]

Blow one and fill it with mustard

A magpie????

 

[Paddington]

We tried with pot eggs in the nest box to confuse them - the pot eggs got pinched, tried weighting the pot eggs, still got pinched. Finally tied the pot eggs to the biggest M10 bolt I could, it must really pee them off to get half through the pophole and come to a sudden stop.
Does the mustard filling work with magpies? We had a talk by Katie Thear once who reckonned that hens did not have the receptors in their mouths to react with mustard, chili etc like humans, but it was good business for Colmans

 

[Cowcalf]

Put half an egg shell on tongue of Fen trap set lightly, or red paint on tongue (the paint may catch other birds also ) and you have success

 

[llamedos]

We tried with pot eggs in the nest box to confuse them - the pot eggs got pinched, tried weighting the pot eggs, still got pinched. Finally tied the pot eggs to the biggest M10 bolt I could, it must really pee them off to get half through the pophole and come to a sudden stop.
Does the mustard filling work with magpies? We had a talk by Katie Thear once who reckonned that hens did not have the receptors in their mouths to react with mustard, chili etc like humans, but it was good business for Colmans

Well it had a result when they were stealing my eggs, only one egg went, the one with mustard, it was the last, I noticed my neighbour had a trap out for months after, but they never came back to mine

 

[Y Fan Wen]

On Ffermio last week, there was a guy with a row of Crystalyx tubs as nest boxes. They were on a slight slope with a slot in the bottom edge. The eggs rolled through into a holding trough which seemed to be made from 6x1 boards where they were collected from above. Any help?

 

[Recoil]

I liked the way his chickens were housed in the top half of a steel framed shed, in the part that is rarely used unless you're stacking hay/straw. Good use of space. Thought the nest boxes were a neat idea too.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

having trouble with magpies going into hen house n eating eggs, any ideas please?

MP you want to darken the nestbox and or pophole, either with some hessian sacking or like I do with some rubber matting cut into strips. I'll take some photo's later and post them.

 

[multi power]

MP you want to darken the nestbox and or pophole, either with some hessian sacking or like I do with some rubber matting cut into strips. I'll take some photo's later and post them.

super idea,thanks, i can do that very easy

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Here we are MP , I took this photo of my pop hole this morning. If you have a drop down pop hole put the rubber or such like on the inside of the coup , or if you have a slide down one like mine you can put it on the outside. I do the same to the entry into the nest box also. You may have to hold it open with your hand the first couple of mornings when you let them out , but they soon catch on and get used to it.