A slight surprise!

I went to the chicken coop to gather eggs from the next boxes in the morning recently. Sometimes I simply reach into the box/boxes and retrieve the eggs. Sometimes the chickens are a little messy and a few eggs will have some chicken poop on them so I look into the box to see how clean the eggs are before I retrieve them. When I looked into the box recently, one egg looked like it had a big, black glob on it. When I looked closer, I realized it wasn't chicken poop on the egg, but was a large snake head with the egg in it's mouth. I grabbed a large pair of tongs and removed the snake. He was almost four feet long, but only one inch thick. His head wasn't large enough to swallow the egg, but he had been breaking eggs in his mouth and leaving only the flattened shell in the nest box. I thought the chickens were breaking eggs as they climbed into and out of the nest box.

I let him go instead of killing him because I prefer snakes that eat rats and mice over rats that like to eat chickens. I also looked until I discovered the tiny hole which gave him access to the chicken run and up the ramp to the chicken coop. The hole is now closed. I saw him the next morning looking for a new entrance to the coop, but he hasn't found one in a couple of days.

In the garden, I always look before I reach. Now I will always do the same in the chicken coop.

Ted

[Labradors2]

Wow! Thank goodness you looked first! Was it a rat snake?

Linda

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by tedln

I went to the chicken coop to gather eggs from the next boxes in the morning recently. Sometimes I simply reach into the box/boxes and retrieve the eggs. Sometimes the chickens are a little messy and a few eggs will have some chicken poop on them so I look into the box to see how clean the eggs are before I retrieve them. When I looked into the box recently, one egg looked like it had a big, black glob on it. When I looked closer, I realized it wasn't chicken poop on the egg, but was a large snake head with the egg in it's mouth. I grabbed a large pair of tongs and removed the snake. He was almost four feet long, but only one inch thick. His head wasn't large enough to swallow the egg, but he had been breaking eggs in his mouth and leaving only the flattened shell in the nest box. I thought the chickens were breaking eggs as they climbed into and out of the nest box.

I let him go instead of killing him because I prefer snakes that eat rats and mice over rats that like to eat chickens. I also looked until I discovered the tiny hole which gave him access to the chicken run and up the ramp to the chicken coop. The hole is now closed. I saw him the next morning looking for a new entrance to the coop, but he hasn't found one in a couple of days.

In the garden, I always look before I reach. Now I will always do the same in the chicken coop.

Ted

I've had this happen. I also walked in on one swallowing a Guinea keet.
The worst I had was a Red Tail hawk that pulled a fairly large peafowl chick from out of a pen with 1" slats!
I always check before walking into the chicken coop! And, watch for black widows, too.
I once scared a bobcat who had killed a hen a day for about a week. I went out slightly earlier to close my coop and he came bolting out!

[mdvpc]

I had a client in Las Cruces, New Mexico that reached under a shrub for something and got a rattlesnake bite. She was a very stoic woman, with a high pain threshold, but she said that really hurt!

It was a rat snake!

I don't like copperhead snakes. Their bite isn't as bad as cotton mouth or rattle snake bites, but if you let the emergency room physician inject you with copperhead anti-venom, you can expect a financial bite of about $25,000 dollars. I've told my family if I'm ever bitten by a copperhead, the only treatment I will accept is an injection of some variety of steroid to control the swelling and an antibiotic to prevent sepsis at the bite site. We keep both at home to use on our dogs for snake bite. I may just use their medicine and not even go to the emergency room.

Ted

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by tedln

It was a rat snake!

I don't like copperhead snakes. Their bite isn't as bad as cotton mouth or rattle snake bites, but if you let the emergency room physician inject you with copperhead anti-venom, you can expect a financial bite of about $25,000 dollars. I've told my family if I'm ever bitten by a copperhead, the only treatment I will accept is an injection of some variety of steroid to control the swelling and an antibiotic to prevent sepsis at the bite site. We keep both at home to use on our dogs for snake bite. I may just use their medicine and not even go to the emergency room.

Ted

Wont be the first time I've seen dog medicine given to people.
I gave a guy some dog combiotic for a very bad infection from a motorcycle spill.
It cleared up in less than 24 hours.

I have found a lot of snakes in chicken nests.
I even pulled a gopher snake out of a silver ware drawer once.

Worth