Texas Rat Snake eating eggs?

[anniefannie]

We found this in our coop last night...

 

[anniefannie]

Ok, that posted before I was finished writing!

The facts:
I know it's a Texas rat snack.
It appears to be at least 4 feet long.
We have a wicked rat problem in our coop.
We have no intention of killing the snake.
We live in a rental house and we are using the coop that was already here - it's pretty shoddy.
We have 24 hens, 1 rooster, and 1 guinnea.
Previously my hens were laying about 12 eggs a day, yesterday I got 1, and the day before that I got none.
We were out of town Friday through Monday last week (we have a Pullet Shut to let hens in and out), and when we got home there was only one broken egg in the coop, and no others!

Could this snake possibly be eating that many eggs?! That seems like an insane amount of eggs for one snake (albeit a large one)!

Or, could they have stopped laying as a result of a recent change from being completely free range (on about 2/3 acre), to being confined to a smaller run? Had to get them off my porch - the poop was killing me!!!

Or, could it just be the Texas heat?!

I reckon it's probably a combo of all these things, but I couldn't find anywhere how many eggs a day a large rat snake will eat.

 

[Trucker19]

We have rat and chicken snakes eating our duck eggs but shoot them with our shotguns

 

[enola]

A lot of things could cause your hens to stop laying. But, one snake will not eat a large number of eggs.

 

[Primo]

A month ago I caught a similar sized rat snake in the nesting box. He had 2 eggs in his stomach and mouth wrapped around another. I think they can go through a lot of eggs as they probably are not as "filling" as an animal with muscle,bones,fur etc. My guess is you have a combination of rats eating eggs, snake eating a few, and high heat humidity shutting the birds down(mine have dropped egg production by 50 percent the last few weeks).
Snakes are cold blooded and need far fewer meals than a mammal. I bet the rats are getting most of them

 

[Primo]

Just killed another. Wife heard them squaking. He had his head parked at the rear end of a broody hen who hadn't gone to roost. Like he was waiting for the pez dispenser to drop another candy! He measured out to 6 foot. Biggest I have seen

 

[TX Hen]

We found this in our coop last night...

Ours comes by around once every week or two. Caught a young (3 ft) one with an egg in his mouth. Got a bit awkward as my dh flung him by the tail. The egg flew a little further, but it didn’t break. Feeding the hens our old egg shells works! Snake was pissed!

 

[McChooky]

If I had to deal with rats and snakes I'd give the coop to them and build a new one.They both kill chicks

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This is an old thread, 2015, but IME you never have just one snake, you probably have two. I caught a snake once with five egg-sized bulges in its body and an egg in its mouth. I don't put up with snakes in my hen house.

 

[bill3607]

Yeah, they can go through several and as long as you let them they will keep eating. There is no way I am going to let any live when I catch them. Nasty, stinking things.