Snakes Kill Chickens!

[Lincy]

I had one too when was younger. Im a big fan of snakes normally. I hate to move this big guy because I know he has been here for years. A friend is going to take him. He will have over 20 acres of woods to play in. No chickens around.

 

[Diannastarr]

DEATH BY SNAKE , i found my beautiful one year old Colombian wyandott hen dead 2 days ago with all her sister still in place sleeping around her from the night before & there was no reason for her death at all ,she was very healthy & a good weight & no signs of illness, but today the next day i lucked out & found the sidewinder rattle snake that killed my CW Hen , she actually save my life since because this tiny but deadly baby rattle snake is the most deadly snake in the USA & that snake was hanging out around my path way were i walk every night to go check on all my birds & this is the snake i almost stepped on the night before, so my CW hen saved my life when she saw it & grabbed it but unfortunately it bit her instead, at the same time she save me, i figured this all out when i saw one of my year old Aussie hens this morning picking up the body of that snake that was lying on my walk way, but it was only half of that snake that was left so it seems that my CW hen saw that snake ( they are really good hunters the CW breed ) & she grabbed the snake along with possibly some of my other hens & had been fighting over it , but my CW got bit in the process , & my hens killed it thank goodness , so here is that snake & i could see the snake still had my CW hens white feather in its mouth, & her white feathers were stuck to the half of its body as you can see in theses pic's, so yeah this is what killed my beautiful CW hen alright & im positive this was her killer. so my CW hen saved my life MY GOD chickens do so many wonderful things for us..!!!! because if i got bit i would never live im allergic to every medication there is , so my dear sweet CW hen really did save my life..! but died in the process..! sad but true

here it is

 

[Coursair]

Rat snakes have venom, but it is just for paralyzing small prey. It has little no effect on humans, that I have heard.

Sorry to disagree, but I wanted to clarify something ...
New World species of Rat Snakes are venomless AFAIK. A few Old World species have weak venom.

Which species occurs in your area ?
"Rat Snake" can mean several different species.

I would be very sad if my future Chickens were ever killed by a snake. I will plan to make the Coop very secure.

Guinea Fowl are very aggressive against Snakes, but even they are helpless at night.

I've owned several species of snakes. I used to manage a Reptile store and breed reptiles.

I hope you all manage to snake proof your Coops

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Patrick Gaddy]

cull the snake!

 

[mosander]

I am sorry about your chickens. We have kept black snakes in another part of our property for mice/vole control. However, a 6 foot black snake showed up three days ago. You must use "hardware" cloth that squirrels cannot destroy. /This snake is eating eggs. I noticed that the egg harvest was smaller. He must be really fast because I cannot catch him out there. I am not afraid of any snakes, but I understand that I only have two options: kill the snake of move him miles away. I have 31 chickens, 1 rooster and 5 guineas and 3 dogs. At night the coop is snake proof. During the day the chickens go in and out of the chicken house to lay eggs. Phyllis Diller, my smallest silkie, had been throwing fits over the last two weeks. She is a very smart chicken and alerts me to different dangers. The ceramic egg trick will work. Collect the eggs frequently and put a ceramic egg in each nest. Eventually the snake will eat one and his days of egg eating will cease.

 

[Kates Chooks]

I am so sorry you lost Addie. Snakes will indeed kill a full grown chicken.
Here's a video from Justin Rhodes, He was shocked as well. Be aware
it's pretty graphic.

 

[meetthebubus]

i had a snake yesterday in the egg laying house it was inches from my Punky who was laying and mohawkie as well, i don't know what it was had a black head and pink body, it was a bit over 4 feet long, scared me to death we had to cull it bc it was inches from her,

chickens can be so smart their instinct for survival is strong, they were still as statues so the snake couldn't see them, they didn't cry out even when whe came in with the shovel to get the snake

unfortunatly later that day i lost a hen to unknown causes though i saved those two earlier, crazy day.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I know this is an old thread, but I just want to dig it up to say I’m thankful for this thread and others like it.

A few weeks ago a white oak snake (a Florida variant of the grey rat snake) died on the electric fence around my largest run and coop. I pitied the snake, figuring a snake like him was only a threat to eggs and bitties. Tonight I found one of the same species in the coop when I was doing my nightly head count. A solid 5 foot long but skinny and of small head. I tried to get him out alive and he hid from me in the nest boxes. I decided to let him be figuring he wasn’t a threat.

But after reading this and similar threads that well document that snakes will regularly kill chickens too large for them to eat and effectively waste the chicken, I went back and found the snake. It was creeping up on a sleeping Wyandotte pullet when I found him, the smallest of the 6 Wyandottes I have.

Killing the snake probably saved a chicken’s life tonight. The documented killings of chickens too large for a snake to eat flies against conventional wisdom that snakes and other predators usually don’t cause unnecessary trouble and shouldn’t be persecuted.

It re-enforces lessons I’ve learned about dealing with other predators in other contexts; real life experiences of every day people are usually more accurate than talking heads on wildlife documentaries who may minimize or deny some truths in the name of conservation.

Thanks again to all who shared their experiences.

BTW, I lost a guinea several weeks ago and it had a wet slimy head when I found its body. I thought it was K9 drool from my yard dogs. There was a white oak snake feet away from the dead guinea. The guinea was half grown and way too large for the snake to eat, thats why I didn’t even factor in the possibility the snake did it. Now I know better.