Unwanted "broody"

[LTygress]

I came home from work today and went to visit the girls out back. Everything seemed fine. Turns out I even have a FOURTH broody hen, now!

I collected a few eggs, and let them out to forage. I was out there quite a while, and dumped a bag of sphagnum moss out and watched the chickens take dirt baths. Then I ran the video camera and the still photo camera for a bit to catch pictures of the chicks taking their very first dirt bath (incubator chicks - none from the broody hens yet).

About an hour later I went back into the pen to see why one particular bantam was not sitting on her nest anymore. When the fourth hen went broody, she took this particular hen's nest. But this hen just moved to a different one where all of the other chickens had been laying in the meantime. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed she had not gotten back on any nest in quite some time, and she was very chatty, and showing signs of aggression. So I went in to check.



And I found this:






With how the lights hit him, he may look like a dark python. But he's really just a non-poisonous king snake. Poison wasn't the issue though. He had already eaten THREE eggs by the time I found him. Thankfully, my brother was visiting, and between the two of us, we scared him into a bucket, watched him escape that anyway, pinned him with a metal bar, put the bucket on top of him, slid some cardboard underneath, pinned his head again as he tried to climb back out, successfully got the cardboard under it with him inside, flipped it over, and put a lid on it.

Now my sister's friend is supposed to be on his way to pick him up and drive him very far away (about an hour) to release him. I wouldn't mind if they had killed him, since he had already eaten three of my sitting hen's eggs! But as long as he doesn't touch the chickens, chicks, or eggs again, I'll be fine.

 

[Peytons Poultry]

Thanks for those lovely pictures, nearly had a heart attack

. Are u asking how to get rid of it? If so, use a golf ball or ceramic egg in the ole nestin' box, and you'll be snake free!

 

[chick lovers]

Thanks for those lovely pictures, nearly had a heart attack

. Are u asking how to get rid of it? If so, use a golf ball or ceramic egg in the ole nestin' box, and you'll be snake free!

HAhahahahahahah

That would work wouldn't it?
Personally though I would have shot it with a shotgun, either way hope you don't get anymore of those.

 

[bj taylor]

I just got rid of a big rat snake. he wasn't in the coop yet, but near. I keep expecting to see him again any day. it would be nice if he would limit himself to rodents & leave my chickens, chicks, eggs alone - but that's not going to happen

 

[LTygress]

Are u asking how to get rid of it?

Nah, more or less just showing the pics I took of the "surprise" nature left for me in the nest box. The nest box to the right of this one is expecting chicks this weekend, so this was definitely a shock! The funny thing is, I use golfballs to make the hens broody. He never showed up then. Now that I've got them sitting on eggs, he decides to show up and eat some! Thankfully the particular eggs he ate aren't any big loss, because that hen JUST went broody, and was sitting on eggs that I'd normally collect and refrigerate. But it still had me running inside looking for an axe (I had planned to kill it before my brother offered to drive it off), and something to pin him with.

The one time he escaped the bucket and started to take off, I did realize he was about a good 5 feet long! I'm SO fortunate not to have lost any actual chicks, or good eggs! But this certainly isn't what I expected to find sitting in a nest box on top of eggs today!

 

[432bullet]

Copperheads, rattle snakes and cotton mouth's I kill. Black snakes or other non poisonous snakes I just run off , because they will kill any of the pit vipers and keep my coop tight enough so they can't get in. Any snakes that are non poisonous do more good than harm.

 

[chick lovers]

Nah, more or less just showing the pics I took of the "surprise" nature left for me in the nest box. The nest box to the right of this one is expecting chicks this weekend, so this was definitely a shock! The funny thing is, I use golfballs to make the hens broody. He never showed up then. Now that I've got them sitting on eggs, he decides to show up and eat some! Thankfully the particular eggs he ate aren't any big loss, because that hen JUST went broody, and was sitting on eggs that I'd normally collect and refrigerate. But it still had me running inside looking for an axe (I had planned to kill it before my brother offered to drive it off), and something to pin him with.

The one time he escaped the bucket and started to take off, I did realize he was about a good 5 feet long! I'm SO fortunate not to have lost any actual chicks, or good eggs! But this certainly isn't what I expected to find sitting in a nest box on top of eggs today!

How did the golfball thing work? Did you just put them in the boxes and wait? I have a dozen golfballs in one of my nest boxes is that too much?

 

[LTygress]

I used them to replace eggs that they laid. Everytime I took an egg out of the box, I put a golfball in it to replace it. Although all four of them went broody around a time when it was raining heavily, and only those mixed-breedhens. I haven't got any broody large fowl, or purebreds yet.