Will a copperhead kill a hen?

[stevodod]

I was getting 10 to 12 eggs a day then went to getting 2...This went on for a month and on a saturday afternoon we found out why,first a 4ft diamond back inside laying box,got him killed went on about a hour later noticed my chickens quacking very unusual and killed a 6ft 2 in bull snake.I am finally getting my eggs back normal and my hens are still shy of the 2 nesting boxes where the snakes were.


WildRooster1

Good LORD! I've never seen a Bull snake in person, just in pics. However, you're going to SEVERELY regret killing the bullsnake once you read this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/217544/bullsnake-two-pics-of-a-bullsnake

Known as 'the farmer's friend', it's harmless to poultry....

 

[shmccarthy]

Good LORD!  I've never seen a Bull snake in person, just in pics.  However, you're going to SEVERELY regret killing the bullsnake once you read this:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/217544/bullsnake-two-pics-of-a-bullsnake

Known as 'the farmer's friend', it's harmless to poultry....

Bull snakes will also eat rattlers if given the chance

 

[wildrooster1]

i was loosing 10 -12 eggs a day to these 2,now my egg production is back where it should be,sorry no snakes here lost many baby chicks and eggs the best snake i know is a dead one!

WildRooster1

 

[nikkichiki]

I h

A copperhead bite wouldn't have caused her to die like that. Generally when a venomous snake nails a small animal it more or less immediately starts running around like its drunk, and then collapses. They wouldn't go back to the nest and settle down and then die.

I have to agree with this. I'm not a chicken expert, but I know about snakes and we had a chick get bit by a copperhead not too long ago and that's pretty much how it happened. It stumbled around and then seized and died. Copperheads are out in full force this summer in the south due to the higher temps so eArly in the year.

 

[Sparrow]

Actually, by all range maps, unless you live in extreme southern Michigan, you are north of the northernmost range of the Copperhead. Something to think about when you suspect venomous snake bites..

 

[gjensen]

It takes approximately 80mg of copperhead venom to kill a man. An average adult copperhead can inject 40mg. They would be capable of killing a hen based on that alone. A baby copperhead would not be likely to kill a hen. There fangs are small, and they do not put out a lot of venom.
A chicken would be hard to get an effective bite on, that is through all of that feather. A bite to the face would be the worst possible scenario for a chicken. An example would be if the chicken went face to face with one.
Copperheads are shy retiring creatures. They are not particularly likely to hang out in an active chicken coop. That is not saying that one will not pass through. They just are not like rat snakes where they would actively search a chicken house looking for eggs and young birds. Rat snakes are bird and egg eaters. They are nest robbers by nature.
All of that said, the likelihood of death by copperhead for a chicken is slim. Not impossible, but not likely. A hen molesting a copperhead could take a face bite. If you suspected a snake bite from a copperhead, you would not be looking for fang marks on a dead bird. You would be looking for excessive swelling, discolored skin, and giant blood blisters called blebs. You would see the injury before the bird died. A copperhead bite will not kill an animal the size of a hen fast. It will take time.
The venom from a copperhead is hemotoxic. The enzymes will start breaking down tissue and causing internal bleeding (similar to what you would see on the surface with the blebs). These symptoms would progress over a period of time and you would definitely know something was wrong with your bird first. Maybe if the bird was bit at dusk, you might find them dead by the morning, but even then it would not be hard to find the symptoms and damage from the snake bite. It is not pretty and it is unmistakable. It is also very very painful.
Trust me. I have had been bitten a few times myself.