Ideas fon preventing King snake from getting my goose eggs on nest th

[mominoz]

Last year was the first year for my Tufted Buff goose setting on a nest with eggs. I tried two sets of eggs and they disappeared without a trace. No shells anything. The nest was in the roofed aviary which has 2X2 wire with an apron and hardware cloth 36" up the sides . It is my night pen for the geese and ducks. In the daytime I open their gates and leave open, which are surrounded by a 4 ft fence with hot wire top and bottom for a day yard.. No loss due to predators in 18 months. They get to free range our fenced 1 acre + yard in S,S,F, daytime.
I saw a king snake about 3 ft. just meander into their pen one day thru a space at the gate. My goose had a hay nest about 8" thick. The eggs just disappeared gradually. I think it was the snake? She hardly left it, and there are 3 other geese she shares it with.
1) This year I was thinking a box for the nest, so something couldn't get at it from underneath.Would that help? 2) Or should I put her in a pen with a bottom wire all around? The floor of the aviary is pond rocks. I did find a hole about 2-3" diameter in the ground last year. 3) Or lock her and another goose up all the time in the large aviary , so they don't leave further than 10 feet?
Suggestions for how to let her set her own or my runners eggs safely would be appreciated. (I live in a rural/ farms forested area,

 

[ColbyNTX]

Kill it!

 

[grendel]

Well with a kingsnake around their main prey is other snakes.

 

[grendel]

I also own kingsnakes, and they do not eat eggs,young chicks yes, but never eggs.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
I agree, Kingsnakes eat other snakes, I've never known one to eat eggs.

Ratsnakes, black snakes, etc. will get one every now and then though.

 

[mominoz]

May have been a rat snake I checked it against Georgia snake Pics, said it was a King snake, but another site said it was a rat snake. It was black with a bit of white checkering it's sides from a white belly. We have rattlesnakes and copperheads in the area ,so i wouldn't kill a good snake. Maybe it was looking for the mice I see occasionally living in holes under the feeders When I hose the aviary down I sometimes wash the mice out of a hole. ;0).
I was trying to figure out what could take out 10 goose eggs without a piece of shell left in a pretty protected enviornment. Last year when I posted I mainly got "snake".

 

[mississippifarmboy]

It does sound like a snake, but it would be a pretty large one to eat that many goose eggs! The only other animal I can think of that would eat a egg and not leave any bits of shell is a dog, and if it's in a secure coop that would rule that out.

 

[redhen]

Dont kill it! Kingsnakes are good to have around!

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

If you post a pic of it, we can help you ID it and determine if it is the culprit!

 

[grendel]

I did some more reserch and if it was a snake it would not travel with an egg in it's belly.First it would break the egg open internally,then regugitate the crushed shell.whole and in a flattened clump.I have to agree that the hole was done by rodents and they will eat eggs.the snake was merely after the rodents,as snakes have this bad stigma attached to them.They are not evil by no means just not cute and cuddlely.