I thought I'd seen it all........

[heronz]

For the last couple of days my chickens have been acting strangely-like something is here that doesn't belong.
Sometimes screaming,jumping and running.
Making weird noises.
Finally figured out what it is-A SNAPPING TURTLE!
I don't know if it was there to get a chicken or just defending itself from those nosey chickens.
It did take a few swipes at them but I have never heard of a turtle going after chickens.
I have heard of them going after ducks/water fowl in the water but chickens on dry land?

 

[Shokokuphoenix]

How big is the turtle (hard to tell from the pictures)? In any case, I'd get him away from the chickens ASAP. Snappers LOVE meat and fowl, so maybe it is indeed trying to hunt the chickens on land if his pond is running low on food.

PS: I've heard many horror stories back home in Florida about snappers picking off entire broods of ducklings (and occasionally smaller adult ducks), including one first hand where the pond's owner didn't even know he had a snapper in there (he insisted he had no alligators or turtles in the pond because he never saw them). This dude just kept buying buying ducklings by the bin-full from the local feed store and just dumping them in the pond as soon as they feathered out a bit, thinking they were 'wandering off during the night' since he wasn't finding pieces of them.

I found out about this guy through a buddy of mine, who had referred him to me to ask my opinion on 'why his ducks were wandering off', since I had ducks and geese and had never had that problem. I immediately recommended that he hire a turtle trapper, and he did within the next week. The trapper promptly came out and trapped up a VERY full medium sized alligator snapping turtle.

 

[heronz]

Not really huge.
It is very dry right now so maybe that is why.
We got permission first and moved him to nearby brook.
Has a somewhat damaged lower jaw so maybe that makes it desperate?

 

[earlybird10842]

Ha! just as you thought you'd seen it all...I wouldn't worry, I've never heard of a TURTLE going after CHICKENS...

 

[Sparrow]

That's a pretty nice snapping turtle. They do not hunt on land, but they do snap to defend themselves. Their shell is not nearly as complete underneath as most turtles, so they have to be extra defensive. Otherwise, they'd make a great snack for lots of creatures.

 

[4 the Birds]

You probably have a pond nearby. I would relocate it to the pond. I use to live a few several hundred feet from a pond in the country and after heavy rains these same type of snapping turtles would occasionally crawl down a swale and into my yard. I just used heavy leather gloves, put it in a box, and set it back to its ideal habitat.

 

[ocap]

my wife heard an animal screaming one day and found a box turtle eating a baby rabbit

 

[Sparrow]

^^Box turtles are a different story. They do eat on land, strictly, and will eat just about anything they can catch, be it fruit, greens, or animal/insect protein.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Handle with caution. Drop in nearest river or pond.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

At this time of year snapping turtles are looking for upland areas to lay their eggs. Turtles can't figure out fences. A fence will flummox a turtle every time. Drop him or her in a close by slow moving stream and you will have done your good deed for the day. However if you have a pond with baby ducks a snapping turtle or turtles will eat every one. Be careful when you handle him or her, they also have a taste for people.