Four oot Black snake!

[jeanniejayne]

What an afternoon! My husband came in to tell me the a couple of the pullets were acting strangely. One seemed to be trying to lay an egg in the wildflower border (which is protected with wire) and another was nearby squawking up a storm. When I went out, he picked up a broken egg from the cement. Odd indeed, seeing as our five Welsummer pullets have a veritable palace with four nest boxes in it not 50 feet away. I went to see if all was well in the coop and much to my surprise

 

[Burbs]

Pic???

 

[verlaj]

I read the rest of the story on the "duplicate thread" that was closed.

I have had many snakes in my nest boxes - it's one of the first things I think of when the egg count seems too low. It usually takes a while before I can catch one in the act. They leave no trace of having been there.

Some will object to you catching and moving the snake, because you may be making your problem someone else's problem, which is a fair objection. I do what you did - capture and release, but I know now to go far away to a state preserve with the snake. We had one return 2 times - from the far corner of our large acreage the first time, and from about 1 mile away the second time. We knew it was the same snake because it had a distinctive scar on its back.

My plans now are to cover the chicken wire with hardware cloth - to protect from raccoons reaching in for chickens at night and to make it a bit harder for big snakes to get in the nest boxes.

Good luck.

 

[mamagardener]

Why was other one closed? It had more info in it.

 

[jtotherow]

Snakes will swallow the eggs whole and move the find a place to wrap around to something to break them inside to digest them.

My husband took a egg out of the mouth of last snake found in the coop.

 

[Ducklove334]

Quote:
nnnnactually!, snake nerd here!

most snakes have small "teeth" on the top and bottom of their throat, this helps to pull live prey down, and in the case of eggs, they simply squeeze, the egg pops, and the regergitate the shell

...*leaves*

 

[GaNewChick]

Yea, this post looks like the opps. Here is the rest of the original post that was closed.

What an afternoon! My husband came in to tell me a couple of our pullets were acting strangely. One seemed to be trying to lay an egg in the wildflower border (which is protected with wire) and another was nearby squawking up a storm. When I went out, he picked up a broken egg from the cement. Odd indeed, seeing as our five Welsummer pullets have a veritable palace with four nest boxes in it not 50 feet away. I went to see if all was well in the coop, and much to my surprise a huge black snake was slithering about in our nest boxes! Before I could get up the nerve to grab him behind his head, he disappeared behind the boxes. I ran in and got my husband, thinking he had got between the siding and the wall board where we have insulation. When he came back with a screwdriver and removed our nest boxes, the snake was revealed behind th boxes, and crawled up into a spot under the eaves, where he curled up. While Cliff was in the house getting some equipment, our pullet Rose came in squawking --obviously looking for a nest box, so I grabbed one and turned it away from the open door for privacy, and she climbed in.

Cliff returned with a pillowcase and one of those jar-reacher things you use to get stuff off high shelves, and while Cliff got hold of his body and held him, I finally got ahold of him behind his head, and together we put him in a pillowcase. We celebrated with a high-five, laughing at our rubber legs and shaking hands.

I peeked into the nest box and Rose has left us a beautiful dark brown speckled egg. The snake was relocated several miles away into a nice woods.

Now I wonder if he was the reason we sometimes had only one or no eggs, when I figured my pullets were just getting their laying habits established!

Can anyone tell me if, when a snake eats an egg, it leaves any evidence?

Last edited by jeanniejayne (Today 5:25 pm)​