Something has gotten into my coop to eat eggs in past years. I haven't seen it, but it never harms the chickens; it never breaks eggs or leaves shells; and there are no openings bigger than 1" x 2" for it to go through. BUT-- those openings are vents under the roof, 4 ft off the ground. Can snakes climb? Of course weasles can, but seems to me if it were a weasle, it wouldn't take away the eggs whole. Would it? (If it is a snake, I think it would be the 5' milk snake we have living in our garage.)

First, disrupting the broody hen. The best way is to remove her to a wire bottom cage such as a rabbit cage, with no straw, no nest box, and a feeder that isn't a bowl large enough to serve as a possible nest. Or you could just give her a setting of eggs and let her hatch them. This is probably the surest way, as it will occupy her time for weeks afterward while raising the chicks, and she'll be less likely to go broody again before fall. Re: brooding to death. It's unlikely, but a hen does eat much less while brooding and does loose weight. She may have had something else going on before going broody, and the reduction of food while she set may have been enough to push her over the edge, but it probably wasn't the cause. Also, if she was laying she wasn't broody. Unless the eggs that you removed were from another hen, her lethargy while you were removing eggs was a sign that she was sick, not broody.

Is she your only child? First, take a deep breath & realize that she is 18... immature and like a lot of young people, feels ENTITLED. I used to think it was the parenting that created thsse entitled children but the more kids I see out there, having an attitude of "deserving" what parents had to work hard for... I am beginning to think it is a societal epidemic. (not to say parenting did not contribute to it, but let's be honest.... how many of us would have gotten spanked or worse if we did some of the things kids today get away with? I would never have talked back to my parents... not so much for fear of being beaten but becasue I knew it was WRONG. Of course, I never tried it so can't say with 100% accuracy if they wouldn't have spanked me. I never wanted to find out. Kids today push the envelope & have been told how to report it to the police or CPS if they are ever put in fear of bodily harm.) Anyway, one solution is to stop buying her groceries. I may be too blunt here, but if you tolerate a half hour of her demeaning you and telling you what an idiot you are, then I would have to say that she may be right about one thing, that you are somewhat to blame for what's gone wrong in her life. Now, before you take that the wrong way, let me explain what I mean. Sometimes, we as parents want more for our children than we had...we want them to suffer less, have more, do better in life. In the process, we "protect" them from failure and disappointment which is something they MUST experience to appreciate achievement, which is what makes them feel good about themselves. Society has stepped in and in some ways, taken that away from children by giving every kid on a team a trophy or not keeping score because the losers might feel bad about losing. I hear people say that young people shouldn't have to work full time AND go to school/college and that education is more important than work experience. Of course, I disagree but that's another subject for another day. My point is, if you are providing food, paying all the bills & tolerating her barage of insults... then THAT might be part of the problem. Stop providing them.. give her nothing. Hand her a bill for her half of the bills that she uses... utilities, cable, phone, etc. Calmly tell her that if she wants to be treated like an adult, the first thing she needs to do is start behaving like an adult and that means to provide for herself. That's a tough stance to take and in most cases with an 18 year old, I wouldn't suggest being so harsh but any 18 year old that feels it's okay to treat her mother (that is still supporting her) like that... well, it tends to make me believe she has treated you poorly for a long time and you accepted it for whatever reason. She wouldn't treat you this way if you don't tolerate it. If you are being abused (and verbal abuse is still abuse) and you live there & work there, you can get her out by filing a restraining order to have her removed. That is a bit extreme but if you leave, she will not pay the bills and the house will be lost. If she leaves (even through a restraining order) and is half owner of the house, you can refinance and buy her out of her half. Before you do something like that, check with the laws in your state or consult an attorney. That's just my opinion based on the info available.

cawfe - thanks for your thoughts. Unfortunately my ex lives about 30 min away, so isn't available for much in the way of picking up/dropping off, unless it's on a weekend the boys are with him. I'm pretty much the primary parent, and my fiance helps when I have a scheduling conflict, but we don't rely on my ex for anything logistical. You're right, Dad's feeling left out although the boys are generally pretty circumspect in what they tell him of my fiance. They tell me nothing of my ex's GF (not that I ask except in the context of something else). sweeby - counseling is still an open question. The counselor who's doing the assessment of my older son has made it clear that she's not the right person to help us with co-parenting because that would put her in a dual role. She's happy to refer us to others, but the whole idea makes me tired. I can't tell you how many years we spent in counseling while we were married, both together and individual. I'm hoping that my son's counselor can help us get to the bottom of any harm that might have been done to him as a result of his father's fears. One alternative I'm considering is to give up on my ex ever changing, and instead work as a "family" within our current structure, the 4 of us (myself, fiance, 2 boys) and go to family therapy to talk about all of our concerns. This to me seems much more useful. I'm coming to the conclusion that in order to co-parent, there has to first be a foundation of trust and respect. Unfortunately we don't have either, and by the time we "get there" with a counselor, my sons will probably have gone off to college and the point would be moot. I'm pretty discouraged about making any progress, but then again I realize how stuck I am. It's late at night, I'm hoping all of this is somewhat coherent ;-) Ann