Black snake killed my 16-wk pullet

[mdunn]

I'm so upset. I went to the hen house tonight to close up the chickens and found a black snake with the head of one of my almost-grown hens down his throat. The snake was about 5 1/2 ft long. We find them sometimes eating the eggs but everybody says they are good to have around to kill mice and rats and nobody every told me they could kill a grown chicken so I haven't worried about them and have just been "relocating them". No more. This one was dispatched swiftly. This is our first loss to a predator in over 2 years of keeping our small flock in the country. Guess we're not quite predator-proof enough.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Honestly, when I see my eggs disappearing or getting the "regurgitated" look, I break out the guns and go looking in the shed. Drape your coops with strawberry netting. The snakes get caught up in it.

 

[darkmatter]

If you suspect a snake is eating your eggs--------then blow out an egg and fill it with salt, tape the hole and place it back in the nest. It will kill the culprit.

 

[dawg53]

I had a 5' long yellow rat snake (chicken snake) pull an adult Buff Orpington off it's perch and dragged it out it's house onto the ground around midnight several years ago. Luckily I was up and heard her screaming (my only screamer) and went out with the flashlight, saw the snake trying to contstrict her. I killed the snake with the shovel. When there's no rodents around, chickens are next.