I got 2 surprises tonight *pics*

[lolita117]

So after an evening of deer hunting I got in after dark and didn't go collect my eggs until about 9pm. I got a wonderful surprise!!! I got a blue/green egg. I don't know who laid it because I didn't even know I had a blue/green layer!! I'm so excited because I couldn't get any EEs in my order earlier this year.

Here's the pic!


Then I went back into the chicken coop about 20-30 minutes later because I forgot something and seen something in the corner of my coop behind one of the posts. I knew exactly what is was, got the hubby (who is deathly afraid) and he killed it.



This was my first snake. Had I not have went back in the coop I would have never seen it. I ran down and told DH and when we went back in to kill it, it was all stretched out on a board above the nest boxes. So glad I'm not to afraid of snakes, after hubby shot it the first time (the shot closer to its tail) it tried to make a break for it, and I had to grab its tail and hold it because it was going in a hole. Then I pull it out so he could shoot it again. I'm totally against killing any kind of snake poisonous or not when it's in its habitat or away from my home (some people kill a snake anywhere just cause), but I don't want them in my coop!!!! Come to find out, this is a pretty big one too.

 

[sourland]

What sort of deer season has started in Kentucky this early? Nice eggs - not so nice snake.

 

[lolita117]

Our bow season started the first of this month.

 

[RaleighRancher]

Is that a rat snake? Would it really be a hazard to your chickens? I'd love to have one hanging around my yard, keeping the rodent population in check.

 

[sourland]

Bucks are still in velvet here in NJ, and deer are just starting to change to their autumn/winter dark coats. Lots of deer in my area. An aerial survey several years came up with in excess of 200 deer per square mile. Lots of hunting pressure and still the population grows. Whether it was a factor of the mild winter or not, I am not certain, but many does are raising triplets this year.

Just checked - our bow season opens this Sat. How did that sneak up on me? I should have known - the guys who hunt my property came around two weeks ago and I signed the permission forms.

 

[lolita117]

Is that a rat snake? Would it really be a hazard to your chickens? I'd love to have one hanging around my yard, keeping the rodent population in check.

Found this in one of the descriptions I found:
Although most specimens are discovered on the ground, Rat Snakes are good climbers. I once observed a specimen raiding a gray squirrel nest high in a tree in November after most leaves had fallen. Rodents, birds and bird eggs, and lizards are favored prey by rat snakes. Rat snakes do occasionally raid hen houses, eating chicks or eggs. For this reason, they are sometimes called "Chicken Snakes."

http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/brat.htm

I didn't know that a chicken snake wasn't really the name of the snake. But I've always known of those snakes colored up that way as being "chicken snakes." But a little research figured out that it is a rat snake, possible Eastern or Black. Other website talks about how they get darker and darker as they get older, losing their pattern. We had killed 2 baby rat snakes in our lodge last year not far from my coop. Researched those immediately and figured quick what those were. So after figuring out what this big one was, we might have more than we think around our house.

Mine was in the 4-5ft range and I know could have easily killed my tiny OEGB. But was scares me the most is I was being lazy and hadn't collect my eggs in 2 days. I have roll out nest boxes now and wasn't too worried about it. Would have been really fun reaching for an egg and grabbed that snake fully alive

Bucks are still in velvet here in NJ, and deer are just starting to change to their autumn/winter dark coats. Lots of deer in my area. An aerial survey several years came up with in excess of 200 deer per square mile. Lots of hunting pressure and still the population grows. Whether it was a factor of the mild winter or not, I am not certain, but many does are raising triplets this year.

Just checked - our bow season opens this Sat. How did that sneak up on me? I should have known - the guys who hunt my property came around two weeks ago and I signed the permission forms.

Our deer are still in velvet and are still mostly red (summer coat) with patches of gray starting to show. There's lots of hunting pressure here too but the population continues to increase because that pressure is only geared towards bucks. Nobody wants to kill does. I get just as shaking up about a doe as I do a buck when it comes to shooting with a bow. Killed a squirrel this morning with my new bow. I'm so proud of it, lol. I haven't successfully recovered a deer since I began hunting with a bow 5 years ago. But I enjoy the rush of getting to shoot at them, lol. I'm a nervous wreck, lol. Here is my first successfully recovered bow kill. May my next be a deer, doe or buck, don't care. Just want to get some brown in the ground, lol.


He was an old squirrel, gray muzzle and all

 

[RaleighRancher]

Good to know. Thanks for the link.