Rattlesnake bites and chickens

[micstrachan]

@Sunshine Flock, just wanted to say I love her name and REALLY enjoy your writing style. Thanks for sharing this experience with us!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I'm no "google expert", lol, but things I've read about venomous snakes are that the offspring (babies) can't control the venom output when they bite, so maybe this snake wasted alot of venom on another creature before he got to your hen or maybe he just didn't inject enough venom before he got tossed off her.
It sounds like she got enough to cause swelling, but not enough to kill her. She is lucky in one aspect that it wasn't a body shot, because that could have caused organ failure immediately, but since it was her face there is a possibility for eye, mouth and throat damage.
She sounds like she is doing just fine though! Chickens are really very resilient animals.
I'm hoping for the best

I agree. The bite location saved her life. I know exactly how she approached that snake. It's just like it was with the first one she found a month ago: tail feathers up in the air, beak down low, head craned at what she must have thought was a tubed lizard without legs, and careful steps toward the creature.

She's walking a bit slowly and with tentative steps. I think her walking has improved since last night; she's more mobile. But I can see how the venom has affected her other than just her wattle thing.

I'd like to say she's totally okay and survived the bite, but I have no experience with this, so she's under a watchful eye for any signs of decline. She went to roost with everyone else tonight, and I can only hope she's the same tomorrow if not even better.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m hoping for a full recovery! How is she this morning?

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I’m hoping for a full recovery! How is she this morning?

Hortense grabbed a piece of lettuce, flung it off the deck, and jumped after it and disappeared deep underneath. Under the deck is a chicken refrigerator. It's probably also prime snake habitat, but I don't have a better option for them in 108 degree heat.

So, I'd say she's doing great today. The swelling has gone down almost completely, but that wattle extender thing is kind of baggy, not unlike an empty testicle. It's not discolored and things look good other than that.

 

[kissezmychicken]

Thank goodness!! Where do you live?

 

[kissezmychicken]

Sorry, I see northern Calif. I hope you don't see more snakes..i would be a basket case. I like do many am terrified of snakes

 

[micstrachan]

I’m in Northern California, too! Such good news about Hortense!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

She's still doing great. You wouldn't know she was bitten by a rattlesnake. I'd say she made a full recovery. She got lucky, though. A full bite in the breast or more fully in her face and not just the wattle could have killed her right away.

 

[phatgirl]

I have a similar situation. Heard a terrible yelp from Mabel. She happens to be the one that chases and catches lizards and snakes frequently. She fell pretty ill and was acting very strange a couple weeks ago. Her normally very glossy feathers turned kind of chalky looking and she lost weight during this odd behavior. I found a jimson weed in the bushes and thought maybe she had nibbled on that? Got rid of it. Fed her yogurt and nursed her back to normal. Wracked my brain on anything different they had been eating. Couldn't think of any changes in diet. Yesterday while moving some potted plants around I pulled out some netting wadded up on the ground that I use to keep the girls out of my veggies and lo and behold a dead baby rattler was wound up in the netting. It had a bulge in the middle of the body indicating that it had fed recently. Not sure about that since I'm not a snake expert but seems logical. I firmly believe that Mabel got a little bite somewhere with maybe not much venom inserted based on how she was acting for about a week. Her feathers are getting glossy again and she's just as curious as ever thankfully. I am certainly going to be on the lookout more vigilantly from here on out.