Hen Battling a Black Rat Snake

[McChooky]

I think he meant that you missed the link to the video in his first post, that showed the hen battling the snake. It was very interesting.

I don't know how I saw the pictures he posted but somehow missed the link! Now I feel like an idiot! haha

 

[centrarchid]

Snake came back and was under another hen with eggs I want to hatch. With some effort daughter and I extracted it from base of miter saw. It has damage on left side of neck from last encounter with a hen. Daughter carried a little over a hundred yards away. It will be back but I will be ready and will move further next time.

 

[Roosterinthecity]

Decapitate it and be done with it. At least the chickens came eat the corpse.

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

Decapitate it and be done with it. At least the chickens came eat the corpse.

I agree with the first part. Don’t think I’d want my chickens eating that nasty thing though. Even though I know they will eat all kinds of things.

 

[ashcons]

I'm surprised it was that chill with your daughter. That hen did some gnarly damage!

Last time I chased one of those suckers out of my yard, it took a couple strikes at the bottom of my shoe when I tested it for aggressiveness. Every time I got near, it would coil, pretend it was a rattlesnake (wiggled it's tail tip) and strike if I got too close.

Last I saw of it, a mocking bird was annoying it (poking at it's tail) as it crawled across my neighbor's lawn.

 

[centrarchid]

I'm surprised it was that chill with your daughter. That hen did some gnarly damage!

Last time I chased one of those suckers out of my yard, it took a couple strikes at the bottom of my shoe when I tested it for aggressiveness. Every time I got near, it would coil, pretend it was a rattlesnake (wiggled it's tail tip) and strike if I got too close.

Last I saw of it, a mocking bird was annoying it (poking at it's tail) as it crawled across my neighbor's lawn.

Each snake is different and they can differ based on situation too. Later in the day we caught a Blue Racer trying to sun itself in a brush pile. I caught it and placed on parking lot surface where it promptly tried to get away. My daughter was on it like a mongoose after a cobra and it struck at her several times before she subdued it. After that is was relatively calm.
My son spotted the snake from well over 50 feet away.

Snake was cool / cold enough to think sitting tight was better than a quick slither away.

Both were exhausted by the effort.

Daughter also caught this little Ribbon Snake as she got dressed to go after turtles in fish ponds.

Snakes are interesting to us and not to be killed just because they are a nuisance.

 

[centrarchid]

And another development. The hen that got into it with Black Rat Snake killed a small Speckled Kingsnake although she did not eat it even though apparently of size suitable for that. My son chased hen off and indicated it was still alive at that time. My chickens can do in even the biggins of this species as they often do not try to get away.

 

[SourRoses]

These posts read like you are more interested in watching fights than raising chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

These posts read like you are more interested in watching fights than raising chickens.

My interest in chickens is far more than just simply raising them. You can take your pick on what you think is more important to me. The majority purely into raising chickens are likely more into simply killing the snakes and thinking nothing more of it. Self-righteous murder-death-kill.

 

[Clucktown]

The eastern rat snakes are constrictors.They can kill a hen by suffocating them once they wrap around them in a nest box.

Killed 2 of my beloved bantams that way. Wet heads and neck are an indicator as they try to swallow them but cannot get past the neck.