Help 5 chickens dead in 1 week

[Roa0707]

One day I went out to my coop consisting of 2 Australorps, 4 silkies, and 1 mixed chicken, one of the Australorps was acting weird so we separated her and treated her with Corid, 5 days after she wasn't showing any symptoms so we put her back outside and she died the next day her head and neck was wet. The day after we separated the Australorp I found two silkies were dead with wet heads and necks and another silkie looked like the side of it's face was attacked and died later in the day. Since there was only one silkie left I decided to put him out with the rest of the chickens in my yard but, today I came home and we found him dead with a wet face and neck to. I think it's a snake but does anyone know what else could be causing this?

 

[Deleted member 94844]

So sorry for your loss... the wet necks are a total mystery. No blood or puncture wounds? Why do you think a snake? Some more information would probably be helpful, what type of waterer is in the coop? How else could they be getting wet? What diameter mesh is lining the coop? Can they stick their heads out? If it was a predator, though, I'd think their heads would be gone, not wet.

Maybe someone else has had a similar experience.

 

[Roa0707]

I just went out there to check for holes in the coop found a couple of holes a snake could get into. They have a gallon waterer on a wood palet. They can't stick their heads out and I'm not sure how big the holes are but they seem to small for a snake to get into. The coop is attached to a shed and snakes could be under the bottom and a couple of days before we found two copperheads and another snake near their coop.

 

[Roa0707]

I think they had punctures on their necks.

 

[Roa0707]

Just found a snake hopefully it was the only one

.

 

[ChicKat]

Just found a snake hopefully it was the only one

.

Yikes -- they give me the creeps -- as do many other chicken predators!!


You know that the snake swallows prey whole. I had a snake swallow the head of a juvenile chicken -- and when the body was too large for the snake to ingest -- it --in effect regurgitated the head and neck -- and crawled away...leaving the head and neck slimey and wet -- but the chick was smothered. -- Hope that is the only one that was crawling around.

bird netting can snare snakes --

so wrapping bird netting or putting a bird netting barrier can help..... and I have heard that sulpher will repel snakes -- so a sprinkling of soil sulpher in a margin around your coop area may be helpful. I have done this --- and had no snakes after sulpher sprinkle -- but perhaps the snakes were already all caught by that time.

 

[Deleted member 94844]

Yikes -- they give me the creeps -- as do many other chicken predators!!


You know that the snake swallows prey whole. I had a snake swallow the head of a juvenile chicken -- and when the body was too large for the snake to ingest -- it --in effect regurgitated the head and neck -- and crawled away...leaving the head and neck slimey and wet -- but the chick was smothered. -- Hope that is the only one that was crawling around.

bird netting can snare snakes --

so wrapping bird netting or putting a bird netting barrier can help..... and I have heard that sulpher will repel snakes -- so a sprinkling of soil sulpher in a margin around your coop area may be helpful. I have done this --- and had no snakes after sulpher sprinkle -- but perhaps the snakes were already all caught by that time.

I'm not going to complain about the lizards here anymore... they couldn't eat a quail egg if they tried

 

[Roa0707]

I looked under the shed and there was a pile of fake eggs I had that went missing.

 

[ChicKat]

I looked under the shed and there was a pile of fake eggs I had that went missing.

!