Shocked!

[elphabafalls]

We have a flock of 12 chickens that are a little over 2 months old. They have a portable playpen, a permanent run and we let them run the whole yard quite often. The other night, the chicks were having a good time running free outside their run. Suddenly, Maggie Mae runs away from the rest of the group with something in her mouth. They do this when they find treasure because the other chicks will chase the chick with the goodie down and force them to share. Since we'd been doing some construction in the back yard lately, I chased Maggie down just to make sure she didn't have something that was bad for her. We try to be super careful, but you never know. When I finally caught up with her, I realized that she had a baby snake in her mouth....which she slurped down like a piece of spaghetti! Is this normal? Rain, our Lavender Orpington, is our bat crap crazy chicken. Do we have 2? lol

 

[HappyClucker7]

One of my hens tried to eat a snake once. I also have a chick that attacked a snake when she was 2 weeks old. For chickens, a snake is a delicious snack. You just have to be careful if you have any venomous snakes around.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

I get a lot of garter snakes in my run, and I pity the poor things if the chickens happen to catch sight of them slithering through. They'll happily tear them apart if more than one happens to notice or slurp em back if they get the chance to consume them alone. It's also not odd to see them eat frogs, mice or young rats, so don't be shocked when you catch them with another gory prize!

 

[Aapomp831]

Very normal.... I watched one of my hens eat a toad... swallowed it whole. She survived just perfectly fine!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I realized that she had a baby snake in her mouth....which she slurped down like a piece of spaghetti! Is this normal?

Small snakes, mice, frogs, grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, earthworms, corn ear worms, all normal. Sounds like a chicken acting like a chicken.

 

[3KillerBs]

Is this normal?

Remember, they are dinosaurs.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Absolutely normal. I bet she’s still annoying her sisters by retelling the tale every hour

 

[elphabafalls]

One of my hens tried to eat a snake once. I also have a chick that attacked a snake when she was 2 weeks old. For chickens, a snake is a delicious snack. You just have to be careful if you have any venomous snakes around.

Two weeks old?!?!?!?! Wow!!!! Luckily, we live in an area where venomous snakes are relatively rare. I would pay a lot of money to see a 2 week old baby go after a snake!

 

[elphabafalls]

Remember, they are dinosaurs.

We call them little raptors all the time. I guess that's closer to the truth than I realized lol

 

[elphabafalls]

Small snakes, mice, frogs, grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, earthworms, corn ear worms, all normal. Sounds like a chicken acting like a chicken.

I've seen them get hold of crickets and locust, etc. It's actually quite disturbing. They all surround the chick who found it and all fight to take a piece of the poor creature. Legs and wings everywhere lol