➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Tesumph]

The Ginger just had the absolute genius idea of putting fake eggs in the coop, so I went and dug up our old ceramic ones. We’ve got five scattered around in there.
I’m not sure if it’ll work but juuust maybe, if a snake somehow manages to get in (which I’m convinced would require phasing through the wire at this point) he’ll go after a fake egg first and eventually end up dying as a result.
It’s happened before but there weren’t any chicks involved..

Spoiler: Dead bird guts—cockerel testicles

I only have the end result, the flies were horrible and I was rushing. The testicles are the two small flesh colored beans (red arrow) with the kidneys sitting behind them (yellow arrow).

 

[Kiki]

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[Morrigan]

Thanks for sharing the photos. I'm sad for your little Roo, but glad it wasn't one of your favorites. I totally get the relief you felt.

It's so hard to completely predator-proof your chicken space. Just when you think you've got it figured out -- BAM -- the predators school you again. All you can do is your best and to keep moving forward.

 

[Kiki]

Haven’t caught up.. just found one of my chicks dead in the coop.. very obvious it was a snake. I don’t know how and I’m a mess.

Oh Tes... I am soooo sorry.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks all.. I’m relieved it was a bird I wasn’t going to keep around anyway, but worried sick for the others now.
I just finished screwing in even more hardware cloth and totally redoing the little coop door’s hinges and placement to try and minimize gaps. I literally don’t know what else I could do to stop a snake getting in, the way my coop connects to my run is so janky and macgyvered.

Also cut poor Snothead open.. couldn’t live with not know his gender. Yep, it was a he. I’ve got a picture if anyone’s interested.. wasn’t a full necropsy or anything. Between the wiring, mosquitos, flies, and fear for my other chicks.. I’m pretty done.

I'm still catching up.
Oh boy I hope there is a picture waiting for me.

 

[Kiki]

I feel for you Tess...and also empathize with the snake issue. Chef and I just put an addition onto our existing coop so I could finally put our babies outside (12 week old babies!). Putting the addition on required me to remove a stone paver wall around the old coop. While I was removing the pavers (by hand) I noticed a snake skin between the paver gaps and up against the wire mesh. Before I could say "hey honey, there is snake skin, the sucker jumped out at me hissing and rearing it's head back. I screamed and fell backwards into my garden bed and composter. Chef almost peed himself laughing until he realized exactly why I was screaming. I have no idea what type of snake it was...it was not the usual black snake we have...but it was quickly decapitated.

Oh my! I would have pooped my pants.

 

[Kiki]

The Ginger just had the absolute genius idea of putting fake eggs in the coop, so I went and dug up our old ceramic ones. We’ve got five scattered around in there.
I’m not sure if it’ll work but juuust maybe, if a snake somehow manages to get in (which I’m convinced would require phasing through the wire at this point) he’ll go after a fake egg first and eventually end up dying as a result.
It’s happened before but there weren’t any chicks involved..

Spoiler: Dead bird guts—cockerel testicles

View attachment 1507500
View attachment 1507511

I only have the end result, the flies were horrible and I was rushing. The testicles are the two small flesh colored beans (red arrow) with the kidneys sitting behind them (yellow arrow).

Thanks for sharing!

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

The Ginger just had the absolute genius idea of putting fake eggs in the coop, so I went and dug up our old ceramic ones. We’ve got five scattered around in there.
I’m not sure if it’ll work but juuust maybe, if a snake somehow manages to get in (which I’m convinced would require phasing through the wire at this point) he’ll go after a fake egg first and eventually end up dying as a result.
It’s happened before but there weren’t any chicks involved..

Spoiler: Dead bird guts—cockerel testicles

View attachment 1507500
View attachment 1507511

I only have the end result, the flies were horrible and I was rushing. The testicles are the two small flesh colored beans (red arrow) with the kidneys sitting behind them (yellow arrow).

That is so cool to see

 

[Pugsabi]

Sorry Tess, that sucks!

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

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