chicken egg thief

[Bisqit&Gravy]

Found this big boy a few day ago gobbling down eggs. He's just a ratsnake so I let him finish and then took a road trip to let him go. 1st I took him to the cornfield across from my house like we have done all the others but this guy turned around and headed back.
My rooster and 1 of the hens were ticked off by the snake. They are what got my attention b/c they were so loud. They had kicked all the bedding out. I had to pick Gravy up to get him out of the way so I could reach the snake.

 

[BeckyLa]

I'm sure your egg count will come back up now.

Same thing happened to me last year and I was amazed at how many more eggs I got once the snake was gone.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

OH MY If I seen a snake in my hen house I think I would call 911!!!

I am SO afraid of snakes! EEK! That is one ugly snake!

 

[flock-mama]

Wow! I am glad you found it! Also glad you took it away and let it go.

 

[Mulemom]

Hm....I have had my egg count go down lately, and there is a big gopher snake hanging around the barn. I've never seen him in the coop. Would he be likely to climb up into the nest boxes to steal eggs?

 

[Cetawin]

Mulemom....yup! Grab him and take him for a road trip.

 

[BeckyLa]

Mulemom wrote:

Hm....I have had my egg count go down lately, and there is a big gopher snake hanging around the barn. I've never seen him in the coop. Would he be likely to climb up into the nest boxes to steal eggs?

In my opinion, yes. Snakes can climb telephone poles and get into bluebird houses so I'm sure that if a hen can reach the box to lay, a snake can also reach it to steal the eggs.​