Snake bite?

[Vestea]

I lost my rooster yesterday. After looking him over i found i found these holes. One large black spot has puncture, and a second a little to the left (brown). I'm thinking snake.

** I'm positive he was taken to Valhalla as he died from battle to save his kingdom! ⚔ (Stew was a gorgeous Cream Legbar that hated me and will be sorely missed ) **

I measured between the "fang" marks at .5" so it would be a small one, if it is one. Not easy to keep out. His coop and run are wrapped in 1/4" hardware cloth, but obviously I've got a breach somewhere.

Stew had 13 ladies all to himself in there so my focus will be on securing them, but I'd still like to know if it is a snake bite so i know what I'm dealing with. The coop is on the ground now, but I'm going to raise it. (I know. I knew better. I have no valid excuse )

Backstory.....

I thought i was missing eggs, but they are just starting to lay so i wasn't sure. (All are 17 wks) Was getting 1-2 per day. I decided to test the theory so i put one egg in each nesting box. Even color coded them. Lol. (Yep, I'm bad). The next day i had 2 new ones and one from the previous day missing. For the next couple days none went missing. Then it happened again. Same for another cycle so i started thinking predator.

I rent 2 acres from a 50+ acre farm. Every predator is here. For my area of Connecticut we only see Copperheads for venomous snakes.

If Stew's wound looks familiar to anyone I'd greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

 

[the_peanut_coop]

Copperhead snakes generally have a 1'' span between fangs but that's an average so a small one could definitely be a possibility. They do eat eggs as well.

 

[Vestea]

Copperhead snakes generally have a 1'' span between fangs but that's an average so a small one could definitely be a possibility. They do eat eggs as well.

Yes, but this time of year adolescents are usually squirming around so it would have just been young. There are plenty of small rodents available outside so I haven't had one in the coop before.

Does the wound look like a snake bite to you? A search online didn't show a match. There were some close, but had more than one black spot. Stew only had this wound

 

[the_peanut_coop]

Yes, but this time of year adolescents are usually squirming around so it would have just been young. There are plenty of small rodents available outside so I haven't had one in the coop before.

Does the wound look like a snake bite to you? A search online didn't show a match. There were some close, but had more than one black spot. Stew only had this wound

I'm no expert on snake bites- I've kept my distance from the rattlers we have here, but that looks like one to my eyes. Snakes eat eggs whole, and I'm guessing a rat would have broken it in the coop and eaten the insides, so if there's no evidence of eggshell I would guess snake. Have you inspected the coop for the whole where they might have gotten in?

 

[DLA]

My grandpa lost a few chickens to copperheads years ago and that wound could certainly be from one from what I remember of how it looked.

Found this, hope it helps some. Be safe please!

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/c...op-tips/how-to-keep-snakes-away-from-chickens

 

[McChooky]

My condolences ! A copperhead could have easily been camouflaged by the leaves this time of year causing him to be bitten