Could Coop Cam Clarify Cannibalism Conundrum? Conceivably!

There’s a cannibal lurking in my coop. I suppose you’re already imagining a creepy Hannibal Lecter hen pairing deep fried chicken livers with a nice chianti. Well, my situation is not that extreme. While chickens eating chicken is a horribly real occurrence, there’s another type of cannibalism that can happen in the coop—where the creepy Hannibal Lecter hen enjoys her nice chianti with a delightful omelet. That’s right. I’ve got an egg eater.

I’ve been finding, on occasion, a huge mess in one of the nest boxes; two or three eggs in the box completely slimed with egg white, egg yolk, and bits of shell. The nest pad has also been soiled with broken egg innards, but the amount of egg contents has never seemed to add up to a whole egg—presumably because somebody’s eaten most of it. This, by the way, always happens in the same nest box. And yet, I’ve been in denial about the true nature of this situation.

The nest box with the broken eggs is one of two side-by-side extra large boxes. I call them the “luxury boxes.” Because these boxes are so large, two hens often occupy each box at the same time. I’ve speculated that maybe having two hens in one nest is asking for trouble, that the hens are getting into a kerfuffle and that eggs are getting broken during the commotion. Then, I’ve further speculated that the hens have been eating the accidentally broken eggs. Because, they figure, waste not want not, don’t cry over spilt milk, and you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. My hens are always spouting all those pithy aphorisms. Anyway, I’ve been banking on this scenario for quite a while, but lately the occurrences have been becoming more frequent—too many to be accidental.

Then I started finding eggs with holes. I’ve read reports that hens can cause holes in eggs by accidentally puncturing them with their toenails as they step on them in the process of leaving the nest. But they can make the holes with their beaks, too—quite purposefully. I can’t be sure what’s going on with these eggs, but the fact that I’m finding them in the very same nest box where I’m finding the broken eggs seems highly suspicious.

It’s time for me to come to terms with the reality that I’ve got one of those Hannibal Lecter omelet-eating hens in my coop.

There are a variety of ways to deal with a chicken who has developed a taste for eggs. Unfortunately, when I look at the collective opinion of those who’ve written about the problem, the majority seem to be in favor of solving the problem by awarding the offending chicken with a one-way ticket to freezer camp. Since each hen in my flock has a name, a distinct personality, and is as sweet as the day is long, I’m hoping to find another solution for the one sweet, distinctive hen who has developed this annoying personality quirk. Maybe counseling?

But, of course, before I can offer any counseling sessions, I’ve got to figure out who the perpetrator is—not an easy task.

I’ll admit that the idea of interrogations crossed my mind. I could go the whole nine yards with handcuffs, a dark room, a bare bulb shining directly in the suspected perp’s face. I could even find a helper and we could do the “good-cop-bad-cop” routine. I would have to be the good cop, though, because I don’t like to think about abusing my girls. Actually, the whole interrogation idea is abusive. So, scratch that idea from the list.

More realistically, I suppose I could just keep an eagle eye on that nest box. I already spend a lot of time in the coop, though, and have never caught the offending hen in action. So maybe I would just have to spend a few days sitting there 24/7. I suppose I could bring a chair and a book and just hang out. I actually enjoy hanging out in the coop, but more than likely it would start to get a little odious, even to me, if I started spending my entire day there. And it’s not like I don’t have other things to do. Plus, is the egg eater going to spring into action when I’m sitting right there? Probably not. So, scratch this idea as well.

And then there’s this YouTube video put together by Andy Fry that I recently ran across. Andy works for Camect, a company that produces an awesome camera hub for home security cameras. Andy saw how a camera could improve his backyard chicken operation, set one up, and shot a helpful video of the process. And after viewing his video, it seems obvious to me that a coop cam is the answer to my problem.

So, I contacted Andy. After discussing my needs with him and learning more about the capabilities of the Camect system, I became even more convinced that this was the solution I was looking for. I could point a camera at the nest box, connect it to a Camect hub and I would be able to see what was going on in the nest box in real time from anywhere. Or I could review footage stored right on the Camect unit. And because the Camect hub can handle up to four cameras, once I had the system set up, I could add another camera to keep track of the entire coop. And I could mount an outdoor camera in the run—and because the Camect AI software doesn’t just track movement but actually can sort moving objects by type, I would be able to get alerts if a predator entered the run. And once I had system in place monitoring my flock, I could mount a camera to my garage to keep track of people coming up my driveway and connect it to the same system.

Andy reassured me that I don’t have to be an IT engineer to set everything up. It’s as simple as mounting a camera, connecting the camera to Camect, and connecting the Camect unit to my router. Easy-peasy! I’m in! I’ve already placed my order.

Will Camect do everything I’m hoping it will? Will I nab the offending hen? Will there be a trial? Stay tuned.

Read about my experience in installing the camera and Camect hub in my post, Connecting a Camect Camera System in My Coop .

And to see video pulled from my Camect system of an egg eating incident, take a look at Egg Eating in the Coop - Nabbing the Perp.