# Armadillos do eat eggs (pic)



## dawg2 (Apr 15, 2013)

I have a flock of guineas.  They are very similar to our native wild turkeys.  Their nesting habits are identical as well.  

The problem is they are laying now but we are not getting many eggs.  The #1 day time nest predator is:  The CROW.  By far, the crow is the single worst day time egg thief problem I have.  The 2nd would be rat snakes.  The crows follow the guineas and wait for them to make a nest or go lay in the nest.  Once the guinea lays and leaves, they swoop down, grab the egg and fly off with it.  They usually find a rock and crack it open and then eat it.  We watch them do this.  Now you know why crows follow turkeys in the woods.  Same reasons.

Lately, we started losing our eggs at night again.  I knew it was not any type of canine (fox, coyote, dog) because the eggs were always a few feet away with a hole in it and all the egg gone.  When a fox, yote, or dogget them, they run off with the eggs.

So I set a trap to catch whatever was doing it.  I placed the trap where a nest was and put guinea eggs in it as bait.  In less than 24 hours this guy was in there and ate the eggs.  You can see one egg at about 4 O'clock in the cage to the right of the armadillo.  I actually watched him brace the egg with his two front feet and chew into, then eat the egg.  I already knew they ate them, but I just never took a pic of one in my trap.  This is not the first time I have trapped them with eggs.


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## TurkeyBird (Apr 15, 2013)

Good info there Dawg.  Thanks for sharing.  It's amazing we have any turkeys with the amount of critters looking to make a meal out of a turkey nest.  Persistence pays off for a few hens I suppose.


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## dawg2 (Apr 15, 2013)

TurkeyBird said:


> Good info there Dawg.  Thanks for sharing.  It's amazing we have any turkeys with the amount of critters looking to make a meal out of a turkey nest.  Persistence pays off for a few hens I suppose.



It is amazing any are able to hatch.  They are doomed to fail from the beginning.  In the past few years I have been finding more raided / abandoned turkey nests than I ever did.  Usually it was just one here or there.  Now it seems to be more the norm.  Almost all of the ones I see now have the eggs eaten in the nest which I think is due to armadillos.


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## TurkeyBird (Apr 15, 2013)

I agree.  We are covered with normal turkey and nesting predators like skunks, coyotes, dillas, and raccoons, but they are also threatened from below (fire ants) and above (crows-one I've never really thought about).  On top of all those threats, we are included in the mix.  I was cutting hay last spring and busted up a nest that had 22 eggs.  There is alot of spring hay cut eat year, which happens to be perfect nesting habitat.  It gives me a considerable appreciation for the survival ability of the wild turkey.


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## Luke0927 (Apr 15, 2013)

just doing what he has to to eat but he's got to go....quail eggs get hit hard too, got to thin these varmints down...never really thought about crows either.


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## dawg2 (Apr 15, 2013)

TurkeyBird said:


> I agree.  We are covered with normal turkey and nesting predators like skunks, coyotes, dillas, and raccoons, but they are also threatened from below (fire ants) and above (crows-one I've never really thought about).  On top of all those threats, we are included in the mix.  I was cutting hay last spring and busted up a nest that had 22 eggs.  There is alot of spring hay cut eat year, which happens to be perfect nesting habitat.  It gives me a considerable appreciation for the survival ability of the wild turkey.


Fire ants are definitely a problem.  I usually pull guinea egs and incubate them.  I let one hen hatch hers.  She did great up until they started coming out of the egg.  Once they cracked that shell, the ants killed every single one before they got out.

Crows definitely follow turkeys.  Many of the birds I have killed had crows "in tow."  I have no doubt they are just as devastating to turkey nests.


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## John I. Shore (Apr 15, 2013)

Never knew that about dillies, makes sense though.  Good post, thanks for sharing.  (Another reason we always kill crows, they are either going to or headed from some malicious mischief activity).

John I.


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## Killdee (Apr 15, 2013)

Very good info, seems that I had recently read that dillers did little harm to turkey nests, well I guess that info's out the window like the yotes do little harm to the deer  population.


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## dawg2 (Apr 15, 2013)

Killdee said:


> Very good info, seems that I had recently read that dillers did little harm to turkey nests, well I guess that info's out the window like the yotes do little harm to the deer  population.


I can tell you they are wrong.  I find turkey nests on my hunting property that look just like the nests on my home property that are identical.  Same signs as what an armadillo does.


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## Gadget (Apr 15, 2013)

Good info Dawg, what bout those hawks? I've watched em carry off poults on a few occasion.


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## dawg2 (Apr 15, 2013)

Gadget said:


> Good info Dawg, what bout those hawks? I've watched em carry off poults on a few occasion.



They are a big risk for poults.  But I am talking about eggs.  Hawks don't seem to bother eggs.  I have lost a young guinea to a hawk but they don't seem to mess with the adults.  Guineas are too big as are adult turkeys.


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## JimLandt (Apr 15, 2013)

From what I've read, if the biologists' research is of any value, the armadillos are probably not out actively searching for turkey eggs though. They come out and dig all around the areas near where their holes are, mostly eating grubs, worms, insects etc. under the leaves. More than likely, your guineas were just laying their eggs very close to where that armadillo lives. He kept stumbling into food there, so he kept going back. I'm sure they'll eat turkey eggs, if the turkeys nest near their holes, but armadillos are not out actively searching for eggs like other predators--raccoons, possums, coyotes, foxes, crows, snakes etc.


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## dawg2 (Jun 5, 2013)

JimLandt said:


> From what I've read, if the biologists' research is of any value, the armadillos are probably not out actively searching for turkey eggs though. They come out and dig all around the areas near where their holes are, mostly eating grubs, worms, insects etc. under the leaves. More than likely, your guineas were just laying their eggs very close to where that armadillo lives. He kept stumbling into food there, so he kept going back. I'm sure they'll eat turkey eggs, if the turkeys nest near their holes, but armadillos are not out actively searching for eggs like other predators--raccoons, possums, coyotes, foxes, crows, snakes etc.


Maybe, but I have now caught 4 armadillos as of today that just "stumbled" into the trap.


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## Hooked On Quack (Jun 5, 2013)

Armadillo = Stupidest animal alive.



Any "wild" animal that will allow you to walk up on it and kick the snot out of it, is not a "hunter."  Opportunistic, yes .  Creature of habit, probably.

JMO, but like all creatures, when they find a easy meal, they probably tend to frequent those areas.


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## Mark K (Jun 5, 2013)

I know it was a waste of money but 3.5" Hevi13 #7's at about 10 yards will blow a dilla in half!!!! Seriously!!! Started carrying a few dove loads after that! 2 3/4" #6 lead will killem as well, just not as bloody!!


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## Killdee (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm getting video of 3 baby dillers on a cam I have set on a dusting bowl, think they have a burrow nearby since a grown one used to come by my stand nearby nearly every evening.


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## dawg2 (Jun 5, 2013)

Mark K said:


> I know it was a waste of money but 3.5" Hevi13 #7's at about 10 yards will blow a dilla in half!!!! Seriously!!! Started carrying a few dove loads after that! 2 3/4" #6 lead will killem as well, just not as bloody!!


one year I shot over 20 on my property.  My shel of choice are 3" WIN XXMAG#4.  DOA


Killdee said:


> I'm getting video of 3 baby dillers on a cam I have set on a dusting bowl, think they have a burrow nearby since a grown one used to come by my stand nearby nearly every evening.


Kill them all.


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## ryanwhit (Jun 5, 2013)

You said it happened, and I never doubted it.  However, I should hope that the wild turkeys that we all love to hunt so much keep more appropriate nesting habits than do your domesticated guineas.  Further, I continue to find it very interesting that video surveillance of quail nests collected during nest predation studies conducted in S GA showed armadillos raiding quail nests with about the same frequency as deer and turkeys.

IDK, maybe they have become much better turkey nest predators in the last 5 years or so...

With that said, I do wish that every armadillo in the US was dead.


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## dawg2 (Jun 6, 2013)

ryanwhit said:


> You said it happened, and I never doubted it.  However, I should hope that the wild turkeys that we all love to hunt so much keep more appropriate nesting habits than do your domesticated guineas.  Further, I continue to find it very interesting that video surveillance of quail nests collected during nest predation studies conducted in S GA showed armadillos raiding quail nests with about the same frequency as deer and turkeys.
> 
> IDK, maybe they have become much better turkey nest predators in the last 5 years or so...
> 
> With that said, I do wish that every armadillo in the US was dead.



The Guineas I have are only "domesticated" in the fact they return to a tree by my barn at night.  You can not pet them, they don't eat of your hand, they were raised to be "wild."  They are by nature wild and not fully domesticated like a chicken or barnyard turkey.  I use them because they are "wild" and will alert the other "dumb" domesticated animals of a problem (coyote, hawk, dogs, etc.) Other than that, they roam freely, just like wild turkeys.  

They also nest in the same locations and type of nest as wild turkeys.  It is nearly impossible to find their nest unless you physically stalk them.  Even then, if they see you they will not reveal their nest.  You have to watch from a distance, usually with binoculars.  If you disturb their nest, it will be abandoned.

The nests of my birds that get raided are all in different locations, usually far from the original location.  It is not a random armadillo raid on a nest in the same spot every time.  They are actively seeking out the nests.  In addition, the cage I have set up is in the open and has no lumber to funnel the armadillos into the box trap.  They go right in.  I have another box trap with nothing in it and have yet to have an armadillo just walk in there.


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## Millcreekfarms (Jun 22, 2013)

I raise gamefowl and my biggest problem is hawks they will eat a whole brood in a matter of days


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## sea trout (Jan 26, 2020)

Good read


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## antharper (Jan 26, 2020)

Yeah it was , I’ve noticed a lot less armadillo in my area it seems


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## Wayne D Davis (Jan 26, 2020)

20 + years ago you'd be hard pressed finding a diller up this way. But they here now probably to stay. Them and ground hogs moved in also


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## Buckman18 (Jan 26, 2020)

Wayne D Davis said:


> 20 + years ago you'd be hard pressed finding a diller up this way. But they here now probably to stay. Them and ground hogs moved in also



Theyre all the way up in Towns and Rabun Counties now... never wouldve thought that!


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## Wayne D Davis (Jan 27, 2020)

Buckman18 said:


> Theyre all the way up in Towns and Rabun Counties now... never wouldve thought that!


I wonder if they spread out or got transplanted. I remember as a kid riding to Florida I saw my first in Diller (road kill) in Florida.  Come to think of it I remember a time that skunks, groundhogs and dillers were nonexistant up here. Groundhogs  can be seen daily around cartersville along the roads. Paths thru the kudzu like highways beat down to bare dirt.


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## Wayne D Davis (Jan 27, 2020)

My dad caught a possum and brought it home when I was like 4 years old. He put it in a cage in the back yard. Like a week later it had 8 or 10 babies hanging all over it.  Then we let it go behind the house in a small patch of woods. A  year after that I remember dad talking to a guy on a tracker that was clearing those woods to build a church. He said there was more possums back there then he ever seen before while daddy was laughing .


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## NCHillbilly (Jan 27, 2020)

Wayne D Davis said:


> I wonder if they spread out or got transplanted. I remember as a kid riding to Florida I saw my first in Diller (road kill) in Florida.  Come to think of it I remember a time that skunks, groundhogs and dillers were nonexistant up here. Groundhogs  can be seen daily around cartersville along the roads. Paths thru the kudzu like highways beat down to bare dirt.


They are just spreading naturally. Every county in western NC has confirmed armadillo sightings now too.


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## j_seph (Jan 27, 2020)

Eat him, he probably got more protein anyways.


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## BASS1FUN (Jan 27, 2020)

A couple of years ago on a public land tract I hunt their was a good many armadillos that were dead (I shot 2-3 myself),turkeys started back gobbling good. The 2-3 years before they hardly gobbled, go figure (saw tons of armadillos those 2-3 years)


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## RedHills (Jan 27, 2020)

j_seph said:


> Eat him, he probably got more protein anyways.



Yuck...they are carriers of the bacteria that causes leprosy. It's a wonder every country kid older than 60 isn't deformed!


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## XIronheadX (Jan 27, 2020)

When I was a teenager in the 70s, going to Florida, I'd see them about Valdosta. By the late 90's, I saw my first one in Washington Co. Now they are in N. Georgia. The next White House Down movie will probably be about armadillos.


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## j_seph (Jan 27, 2020)

RedHills said:


> Yuck...they are carriers of the bacteria that causes leprosy. It's a wonder every country kid older than 60 isn't deformed!


http://www.eattheweeds.com/armadillo-cuisine-cooking-a-hoover-hog-2/


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## Nicodemus (Jan 27, 2020)

It`s not bad. Tastes more like fresh pork that anything.


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## antharper (Jan 27, 2020)

RedHills said:


> Yuck...they are carriers of the bacteria that causes leprosy. It's a wonder every country kid older than 60 isn't deformed!


Mama always cooked ours well done !


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