hen sucks down baby garder snake like spaghetti noodle

[rehric00]

One of my hens just devoured a snake...pest control!! It won't harm her will it? I tried to get it from her but she was determined and quick!!

 

[Veer67]

I don't think it should, I find my chickens catching frogs I also found them trying to eat a mouse they just killed ( though I shooed them away before they did). Once my silkie found a dead baby bird and was thrashing it around trying to fit it in her mouth. Whenever my hens see a snake they stay away from it clucking nervously but maybe they eat snakes it's just that I never see them do that?

 

[rehric00]

It was kinda crazy to watch. I was gonna shoo the snake away, but she saw him... shook him till he wasnt moving, then sucked him down. It was interesting to say the least...and kinda gross.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds like perfectly normal chickens to me. There’s a lot of protein in snakes, frogs, and mice. Just consider them velociraptors. They operate on the principle of “Do lunch or be lunch”. If it doesn’t eat them, they will eat it.

When they catch something like that they normally peck it enough to pulverize it so they can swallow it. If it is too big to swallow, they peck it into pieces small enough to swallow. It’s what chickens do when they’re allowed to be chickens. It may seem gross to you, but to a chicken that is a gourmet meal.

I’m surprised you didn’t see a game of keep-away. Usually when one gets a snake the others chase her trying to take it away from her.

 

[donrae]

*Meat Group*