Ribbon Snake Vs. Broody Jap Bantam

[Catersun]

THe snake won... how do I keep this from happening again. It was my daughters pet hen, the only bantam in the coop with 4 fullsize laying hens. The snake is dead. He was still in the coop when the the husband came home and took care of the critters.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

I dont have any idea, but I have never dealt with a snake before...
Sorry for your loss, I love Japanese..

Someone will be along that knows more than I do soon.

 

[Ducklove334]

did he eat the eggs, or the hen? O_O

thats sad either way, I'm sorry

 

[Catersun]

He may or may not have eaten an egg there were 4 eggs, and I was expecting 5, but it would have been a left over from a late layer the day before... he left the dead hen, and was still in the coop ?12? hours later. Hubby said the hen was stiff and had bugs all over her. So it happened about 8 am as rigor I think starts about 12 hours after death(I may be wrong about that... It leaves the body by 24 hours). I normally collect eggs around 10am, but didn't today because we were trying to get chores done quickly to go visit with family in town. Thinking I'd collect eggs when I got home, but hubby got home to do chores before I did, and reached into the coop and felt something bump the wrist of the welding gloves we had been wearing to collect eggs as the grumpyu little hen wasn't so happy with us for taking her eggs. I'm rather sick to my stomach thinking that maybe I could have gotten the snake out this AM with out loosing the hen if I'd gone out the AM like normal.

 

[nursemeh]

are you sure it was a ribbon snake? I don't see how a ribbon snake could kill a chicken, even a bantam. Perhaps it was a garter snake, which is a bit bigger or a rat snake?

 

[Catersun]

it was too big to be a garter snake. When threatened they will wrap around their prey and death roll, Keep inmind is was a very small Jap bantam... she was quite small. I suspect that the snake wondered into the coop and the broody hen went after it as she was on the opposite side of the henhouse from where the nest is when we found her, and the interior of the house was in disarray with the waterer being knocked over and feeder being moved. She thought nothing of pecking the heck out of us when we were collecting eggs, so it's nothing for me to think she went after it and it was defending itself.. it was a good 4 feet long. I have seen it around our property a couple of times in the past two weeks. I'm kinda regretting the decision to let it live when I found it sunning itself in the garden last weekend as I have wee children about. Just looking for ideas about how to keep this from happening again.

 

[columbiacritter]

A ribbon snake couldn't kill your chicken, even a small bantam, or eat an egg. Even the largest of them can't eat a large mouse. Their diet is almost entirely insects and small mice, preferably baby mice if they can find a nest.

They don't have fangs long enough to pierce feathers or tough chicken feet. Even if they managed their venom is very weak.

My hens actually catch and eat them on a regular basis. I prefer they didn't since they do clean out mouse nests. I've seen my grandfathers little bantams catch and eat gopher snakes which do have venom and are 5 times the size of a large ribbon.

Most likely the appearance of the snake and your dead hen were a coincidence.

 

[Catersun]

I don't think we are talking about the same snake then.... I have known chickens to eat snakes, but not a snake that was a good 4 feet long. with the same stripping as a ribbon snake, perhaps it was a garter snake, it was long and striping similar to a garter snake or ribbon snake. I wasn't getting close enough to count which scales the stripes started on. The hen was just a year old this spring, so it's hardly a case of old age that got her adn she was healthy and vigorous, so it's unlikely that it was anything else that killed her either. So... if you have anything useful to add to this thread, I'd love to hear it, but since you weren't there... perhaps you ought to never say never.

 

[Cetawin]

I am sorry for your loss. I would really like to sort of what kind of snake it is...I doubt a ribbon would do that and a garter usually would not either because they are not big enough... well a ribbon snake is a sub species of the garter. But they are small snakes no more than 18 - 34" and scrawny things....they do not have fangs and are very very thin snakes. Their diet consists of insects, frogs, salamanders ans some, the western ribbon, will eat very small fish.

You might want to be on the look out for another species of snake or predator. A Jap Bantam could easily kill a ribbon snake, my 8 week old chick killed a garter snake.

 

[WalkingWolf]

You said the waterer was knocked over, depending on how long she was without water this was probably the cause. As she was the only bantam she probably was more susceptible to being without water. Chickens free ranging all day can go for a long time without water, but bugs give them a certain amount moisture, and they don't need it as much to disolve bugs. But dry food is another matter, without the water they cannot digest the food or move it from the crop, it is essential.

So you are probably correct the snake did kill the bird in a way, the commotion brought about the death from dehydration, or starvation.

Sorry for your loss, don't beat yourself up things sometimes just happen.