Rat snake

[nancykay2kay]

how old are your chickens first.

Twelve weeks.

 

[lazy gardener]

How do you know that it was the snake that killed the chicken? What were the signs you saw? More information please. Age of birds. Where was the body? Any signs of injury? What did the injury if any look like? Was the snake found in the coop?

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

He killed one of the chickens last night. They were locked in their coop . . . I think he found a crack in between the timbers. My favorite one was dead and the other 3 were fairly traumatized. I got some snake repellent that I am fixing to use and I have shored up any cracks on the coop. I have put shovels, pick ax, etc. stationed around at intervals so if I see him again I will have a tool handy. He is very fast.

I am sorry to hear that, it always seems to be the favorite ones that die somehow. I really hope you get the problem fixed. I am not a big fan of killing snakes in general but since we have chickens, any snake I see is a dead snake unless it is a protected species... because they draw other large snakes and I have three children around as well.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

a 2 ft rat snake is not big enough.. sorry. He is after rodents. Following the scents from mice or rats.
A 12 week old chicken will not fit in his mouth to swallow it whole.

 

[centrarchid]

Barking up wrong tree with respect to the perp will make your efforts to protect chickens less effective.

 

[nancykay2kay]

How do you know that it was the snake that killed the chicken? What were the signs you saw? More information please. Age of birds. Where was the body? Any signs of injury? What did the injury if any look like? Was the snake found in the coop?

The coop was closed and the only way in was a half inch crack in the timbers on the base. The dead chick was on the floor of coop and had some bite marks on her thigh that looked very much like snake bites. They are 12 weeks old. A snake is the only thing that could have gotten inside. Now the problem is that two of the chickens will not go back in the coop to their roost. One has gone in but the others are sitting in the run on a tree branch. The snake was not in the coop this morning. There was no sign that it tried to eat the dead bird but there must have been havoc in the coop.

 

[lazy gardener]

Rat.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

My partner had a 6' boa constrictor that was barely big enough to eat an adult chicken so I doubt this lil 2' rat snake did it. Rat snakes almost never eat larger birds, only babies or eggs. I'd leave him be or try to relocate him.

That doesn't sound like a snake. Snakes do not usually leave visible bite marks and try to eat their prey whole. A chicken that had been killed by a snake and was unsuccessfully eaten would be strangely elongated and squished, possibly with crushed ribs or slicked over body parts. Pictures always help. I think it could have been a rat, or there could be a gap you don't know about. Rats love chickens. I've lost several chickens to rats.

Chances are good that this rat snake is the solution to your problems, not the cause of them.
Rats can fit through any gaps big enough for their skull.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Unfortunately a rat got your chicken

 

[centrarchid]

Get chickens completely out of coop now and place them in a location that is more elevated in a place like a garage. Then tomorrow get work on blocking access of snakes and rats before putting chickens back in.