Snake...my excitement for the day...

[MiniBeesKnees]

I live in a rural area so if I drove it a mile or two to let it go...I'd be passing hundreds of its friends and family on the way. Seems kinda pointless.
It was after the eggs though...it ate one. I don't have mice in the chicken coop area, I never find evidence. But I do in my house where I find mouse poops once in awhile. I dispatch them with little green blocks of poison I put where the dogs can't possibly get to them. Oddly enough they never get in my food. They go for the dry dog food of which two kinds are kept in the dog bowls all the time. Once in awhile I'll find a stash of it in an unused drawer in the storage areas.

Of the twelve remaining eggs ten did survive and are chicks. When she left the nest with them I removed the other two eggs...one was not fertile, and one had gotten cracked and the chick died...probably when I dumped them out of the crate, or when I moved them. I think it is a miracle that ten did make it.

I let four hens out yesterday to free range and one didn't come back when it was time to roost. I live in the middle of hundreds and hundreds of acres with very little population and as far as chickens are concerned it is all theirs. They don't recognize fences as boundaries. I was outside most of yesterday and didn't hear any attack noises...maybe she just lit out for the woods and decided to go broody...although she hadn't shown signs of it. Maybe she'll come back. She had been in with her husband in a separate pen and crate shelter (roofed with metal) for weeks and maybe she is just on vacation.

For someone who moved to TN because they wanted three chickens...I now have 30.
Terry in Tennessee

 

[DustinLach]

you think that was a big snake you should see my baby
me in the black shirt my wife and little girl and my sisters husband and their son.

this is a big snake lol.

no need to kill the snake though they are good for the ecosystem and keeping pest away last i check their are no egg eating snakes in america they are mostly found overseas, most are cold bloodied friends here are interested in rodents only so no need to worry and certainly not big enough to eat chickens.

 

[TXmom]

Quote:
Wow, that is an awesome snake! I'm not afraid of pet snakes, but in my coop around my chickens and eating my eggs...I didn't like that one bit. And where do you get the idea that there are no egg-eating snakes in America? There are tons of them around here. I could SEE the eggs in this guys belly! And when I was trying to get him out of the coop, he was very agitated and opened his mouth and a little egg dripped out...I could see the white and yolk coming out of his mouth from the eggs he had already crushed inside him...he had a feast on my eggs! With my little broody Silkie hen just a few feet away...that was scary to me.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It's not that they are going to go after an adult chicken, but they can eat small, just hatched chicks and eggs. I don't think most do this or it would be a much bigger problem than it is. It does happen, though. Fortunately, we haven't had any trouble with snakes, here.

Great job of figuring out which of your hens was your broody! I'm glad you saved almost all of then. It's amazing what you can do when you are trying to save your babies, isn't it?

 

[95yj]

presented with the opportunity most snakes will usually eat a mouse or rat or even a venemous species instead of an egg, if they eat eggs, i'm not even sure if they do, it kinda sounds like an old wives tale. I like having snakes around, admittedly we only have 3' garters and milk snakes around the house. Whether or not you see them or realize it, you have mice/chipmunks/rodents of some kind, they're always there, they may not live in the coop but the scent is around the area and it probably attracted the snake, not much you can do. just don't kill them, alot of snake species are struggling.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

yes, woodland woman...it is. If anyone had asked me if I was willing to do battle with a five foot snake I would have said no without thinking about it. As it was, I did battle with it also without doing any thinking about it. I whacked at it with a big stick and it was headed for under my big shed but that shed is maybe 40 feet from the chickens so that was not to be a solution.

I have a small piece of land...80 x 100 feet but it is in the middle of a wooded area of thousands of acres. It occurred to me that the chickens don't recognize my property lines and get to free range in the woods. So as far as free ranging...they have a huge area. But should the snake come back I'll kill it. I've taken to carrying my .38 loaded with 'snakeshot' which are bullets made for a handgun that look like tiny shotgun shells. The snakes have those thousands of acres too and they can stay off my little place.
Terry in TN

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

It is common for snakes to eat eggs.
And I'm sure I don't have rodents in the coop...when they come in the house, I see evidence.
Evidence in the form of little poops. That is the easiest way to see you have mice.
Rat poops are bigger. I'm familiar with both.

Generally I don't kill things. But I'm unwilling to surrender to something that threatens those creatures under my care...or me.
I'm willing to share the earth with other creatures, but I'm not willing to let me and mine be prey.

I'm a dog freak. I love dogs...I have three and a new puppy. But if a stray pit bull is headed for my grandbaby, I'm gonna kill it.
I don't mind snakes...but if they are after my creatures, then I'll kill them...I don't care if the species is struggling.
They can struggle in the rest of the world that ISN'T my 8000 square feet where I struggle.
Terry in TN

 

[TXmom]

That's exactly how I feel...I couldn't have said it any better, MiniBeesKnees.

Do an internet search for "chicken snake". It's not a particular species of snake, but usually refers to rat snakes or other snakes found to be eating bird and chicken eggs. Just because it's called a rat snake, does not mean it eats only rats. They are everywhere around here and it's very common to find them eating eggs in the nest boxes, or eating wild bird eggs out of a nest in a tree.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

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This is so true, WoodlandWoman. Snakes are capable of eating eggs and chicks. Sadly, probably more snakes are killed than have actually committed the sin of eating a chick or an egg. Most people just assume that any snake they see is after thier birds or eggs and don't realize how beneficial snakes are to the ecosystem and to the management of rodents and small mammals. When you kill a snake, it actually effects the balance of the rodent population. It's like the places that are overrun with deer because there is no natural predator control. With rodents, their populations can rocket out of control, so the loss of even one predator can wreak havoc. Instead of killing the snake, you can relocate a snake from a problem area (henhouse) to an area which has a rodent problem, where the snakes natural tendencies can pay off. For instance, having snakes in my barn (and yard) has really paid off in rat & mouse control.

 

[satay]

Quote:
What a beauty