Will snakes stash eggs?

[MikeyLikesIt]

I have a broody hen and was preparing a pen for her when I found a stash of fifteen eggs... and curled up beside the eggs was a good sized chicken snake. (the snake has joined the dearly departed... the second one this week) These eggs were in between two bales of straw. The space was much too small for any chicken to get in there to lay.

I also have two ceramic eggs that have vanished from the nest box.

I hope there is a really constipated snake out there somewhere.

Mikey

BTW, if this snake was stashing eggs, it has a color preference. All but two were green.

 

[Stingrayg4]

I've seen hens lay in some unbelievably tight spots, I'm betting your girls laid them there. I've never heard of a snake storing food.

-S

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
x 2

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Snakes do not cache food, but other animals do. Foxes will, jays do, I'm fairly certain a Norway rat will. Probably not 15 though. Most likely thing would be that a chicken plunked those down in a tight spot, and the snake slithered in for a meal. But, that doesn't explain the missing ceramic eggs. My guess is either your girls rejected them and rolled them out somewhere, the snake has a very heavy stomach, or you have a predator caching eggs. Are their any scratches or bite marks at all one the eggs? If so, you can identify the animal by the markings. If not, probably just have a Houdini hen!

 

[MikeyLikesIt]

There was no way a hen could get into that space... not enough space to get my hand in there.

After giving it more thought, i think it could be possible that the hens were laying on top of the bales of straw and perhaps as they were scratching around up there the eggs may have fallen between the bales. There was one egg on top of the bales and the straw looked as though it had been scratched around in. My wife gathered the eggs and disposed of them so I can't say whether they had any markings on them.

I had never heard of a snake caching food but the way that snake was laying there, almost as if it were broody, made me wonder.

Anyway, the broody hen is settled in and that snake is no longer a threat. My underpants have been washed and all is good.

Thanks for the replies,
Mikey

 

[edgroger]

Quote:
I agree with sting, if it were snakes they would just swallow it whole.

 

[Hoosierchickens]

Yeah, snakes don't really have the means to manipulate their environment that delicately. The eggs found their way there some other way and the snake found an opportunity.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How big were the eggs? Maybe you found a nest full of rat snake eggs.

 

[Stingrayg4]

Quote:
This theory makes perfect sense to me.

-S