[Update!] Moving Onto Bigger and Better Things?

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

So, I forgot to take pictures but we finally found the snake! He was hiding in the chicken coop — which is directly next door/connected to the guinea pen— and he was clearly full of baby guinea.. We turned him into turtle food and tossed him in the lake for the turtles and fish to make a meal of him.

I’m not sure how long he had been hiding in the coop to eat the eggs because he was buried under the hay pretty good. We had another big snake about 2 1/2 weeks ago and he was curled up in a corner under the nests full of eggs.

I think that’s how they’re getting in because there is a slight crack under that corner into the coop but how they’ve gotten from the coop to the guinea pen I’m not really sure.. But for now that’s one snake taken care of.

Hopefully we don’t run into anymore. I’m going to try and see if I can find something to fill the hole I found and maybe that will help.. I’m not sure.

Wow - that’s very dramatic! Yeah, I don’t view the egg eating as harmless, because the snakes can move on the live prey... That hiding under straw is so disturbing! That was an issue I had too, but with shavings.

 

[newb1rdmom]

Wow - that’s very dramatic! Yeah, I don’t view the egg eating as harmless, because the snakes can move on the live prey... That hiding under straw is so disturbing! That was an issue I had too, but with shavings.

The hiding really is disturbing because I have no idea how long it’d been hiding in there and I go in and walk around there everyday.. But now it’s gone and I’ll be making sure to check the hay piles everyday to make sure there aren’t any snakes. It’s a bit interesting they only have interest in the coop nests because the hens have been laying outside the coop on the ground.. much easier access but they don’t seem to make their way over there. Not that I’m complaining! Just find it odd.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

The hiding really is disturbing because I have no idea how long it’d been hiding in there and I go in and walk around there everyday.. But now it’s gone and I’ll be making sure to check the hay piles everyday to make sure there aren’t any snakes. It’s a bit interesting they only have interest in the coop nests because the hens have been laying outside the coop on the ground.. much easier access but they don’t seem to make their way over there. Not that I’m complaining! Just find it odd.

Our snakes like the outdoor nests as well, and I’ve lost many clay and glue filled eggs to snakes outdoors. Since snakes hunt by scent, I suspect that the concentration of birds and babies in a coop has a much stronger smell than an outdoor nest, which is probably almost odorless and is found more by accident. Right now, I’m inspecting the guinea coop for snakes by turner the over structures and looking at any place that I think they could hide...