The mystery of the Missing Ceramic Eggs

[aart]

but I know that there is some left on the ground inside the coop and in the run and that the chickens will eat it

Magnet?
Probably a good reason not use to use a shotgun at all near where they chickens are?
So, did you get your ceramic back?

 

[imnukensc]

Lead is non magnetic so a magnet won't help get it up.

 

[aart]

Lead is non magnetic so a magnet won't help get it up.

I don't know much about it but thought some shot was other than lead.
Sure don't want chickens eating lead.

 

[imnukensc]

Lots of different shot for shotgun shells these days----lead, steel, bismuth, zinc, etc., but the gun he was using was a revolver using shot cartridges----typically called snake shot or rat shot and if I recall correctly, those only come with lead pellets.

 

[Member 482121]

Yes, I got the fake egg back. I cleaned it well with clorox and put it back.
As far as the lead pellets are concerned, I guess next time, if there is a next time, I'll use my shotgun and non-toxic shells (steel pellets). Or a hoe. I killed a timber rattler a few yards away from the same coop a couple of years ago using a hoe. But it was not very long. I would not get close enough to a big rattler to use a hoe because it could put me within his striking reach.

 

[Member 482121]

Last night in another chicken house the egg count was way too short. I suspect another snake (or more than one) may have found their new restaurant. I began to think how to get rid of marauding snakes without endangering the birds, both mine and the wild ones for which I spread scratch seed on the ground outside the chicken runs. I am going to give this a try: I am going to empty a few eggs of their contents the usual way, as we do to make painted Easter eggs and Christmas tree ornaments. Then I am going to plug one of the holes with hot glue and inject them with a saturated solution of water and baking soda before plugging that hole, too, the same way. The theory is that once the eggshell is digested and crushed in the snake's stomach, the acid in the stomach (which I believe to be strong, as it's supposed to dissolve bones and scales) will come in contact with the baking soda solution and create a reaction which will produce a huge amount of bubbles and make the snake's insides burst--provided snakes are not capable of burping! Thus, only the true egg thieves will be punished, and no chicken will be harmed if that egg accidentally breaks and spreads its contents inside a nest. No chicken in its right mind would eat that nasty stuff! In Alaska, where I used to live, cruel and wanton people, I am told, kill seagulls by inserting a tablet of Alka-Seltzer in a piece of bait herring. The bird gulps down the piece of fish, the Alka-Seltzer begins to bubble, and the bird's crop or gizzard, or both, swell up and the bird dies, either because his insides burst, or--more likely, the swelling of its crop compresses its trachea and the bird suffocates. I have never seen it done in the 29 years I spent in the Last Frontier. Maybe it's a bunch of baloney that Alaskans tell Cheechakos (newcomers, greenhorns).
Speaking of Alaska (God, I miss the fishing and the duck hunting!), and straying into a colossal Off Topic, I must add that Alaskans derive great pleasure from teasing those Texans who resent that statehood conferred upon the Last Frontier deprived their own state of the title of "Larger State in the Union." When a Texan comes to Alaska and starts bragging about Texas, there's always someone ready to take him/her down a peg or two by casually telling him or her that just the amount of Alaska land left dry at low tide already constitutes a larger acreage than the whole State of Texas... Enough to cause a rose to turn yellow with bile.

 

[aart]

So the snakes have driven you to become one of the...

cruel and wanton people,

???

Minnow trap with an egg inside would work too, and easier than the 'bombs' you propose.

 

[Member 482121]

So the snakes have driven you to become one of the...???

Minnow trap with an egg inside would work too, and easier than the 'bombs' you propose.

I see your point. But the gulls are not doing anything to those who kill them. The snakes are stealing my eggs and perhaps threatening my chickens. I believe in the defense of life and property, and my "bombs" would not endanger the snakes that do not attempt to steal my eggs. Besides, I generally don't kill animals I do not intend to eat (except pests that infest my plants, insects that could sting or bite me, etc.), But I have killed many raccoons, opossums, and a fox that at night have meandered around my chicken houses trying to find a way in and have instead walked into a trap. Does that make me wanton and cruel? Perhaps--but then you have stepped into a den of cruel and wanton people, in this forum. Think about it: many of us do not only kill varmints to protect our chickens and the eggs they lay, but also--HORROR!--now and then kill one of our chickens (and they trust us!!!) for the pot....

As to capturing the snakes alive, what do I do with the captives? Release them somewhere else so they can be someone else's problem? Would you be willing to take them and give them food ad lodging? Please send me your address and I promise that I will ship to you all the egg-stealing little dears that I catch alive...

 

[aart]

As to capturing the snakes alive, what do I do with the captives?

Bucket 'O Water.

 

[Member 482121]

Bucket 'O Water.

Is drowning better than exploding? I have a feeling that it would take a very long time to drown a snake.