Chicken Snake - Warning Semi-Graphic Photos!

[Comanche County]

Finally two weeks ago we had a hen go broody. She sat on 16 eggs only getting off the nest for a brief drink and bite to eat once a day for those two weeks. She was my biggest Australorp.

 

I went out this morning to clean up my outdoor Jeep Restoration, Recreation and Leisure Park - close by the coop. I check her out every morning and she was doing fine. Came back a while later, and there's a 6' Texas Rat snake (commonly called a "Chicken Snake") constricting her and at the same time as he's got his mouth stretched over an egg. I saw she was still alive and I shot the the snake behind the head. She jumped out of the nesting box and there were only 4 eggs left, one she accidentally kicked out when she jumped and it busted on the ground with a full chick inside. Took the other three and put them in a homemade incubator I had just made, including the one the snake let go of. Hopefully they'll hatch in about a week. Came back out to inspect her, and it turns out I clipped half her beak off with the shot. I was heartbroken, I took my time maneuvering her and the snake to get a clean shot but I screwed it up, our only broody hen, we've been checking on her many times a day over the past two weeks and sort became attached. Thought it over for a minute, then decided to end her pain. Besides the beak issue, the snake really roughed her up.

 

Crappy way to start the day. This why the old man always kept Guineas too, they're great for fending off snakes.

 

Pics below...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cousin, he's 6'2".

[mvusse]

Bummer.

 

Good luck with the eggs in the incubator.

[jimoshel]

Bummer. Part of the price we pay for the advantages of country living over city life. Hope the eggs hatch out OK.

[Sir Sam]

Damm dude.

 

I currently have no chickens, raccoon got all of em.

[Comanche County]

Yeah, I should have just pulled it off by hand. But i didn't it think it would let go, he was really squeezing her hard, and I wasn't quite sure what kind he was till I got him out of the box. Non-venomous snakes are actually good to have around, just not like this. Next one will get Steve Irwin'd by hand out the coop. Venomous snakes will get the business end of one of my various projectile launching smokeless powder implements.

[Sir Sam]

Ya I had a black australorp once, she was a good layer, true to the breed.

[HOrnbrod]

Sad story Jay. What the heck did you shoot the snake with? A little 22 short pistol or even a pellet gun would/should have worked fine. But in the coop, maybe not. Gus is always out tangling with snakes in the backyard; chicken/rat snakes, racers, and the more frequent water moccasins. He makes such a racket and when I come out if they're not moccasins I usually let him dispatch them himself. For the useless moccasins Mr. 9mm is used. :D

[Sir Sam]

I think part of the joy of the country is getting to shoot all the stuff that lives here.

[Comanche County]

I first walked out and saw the snake wrapped around the hen and I thought she was already dead, so I went back inside and grabbed my S&W M&P Sub Compact 40 Cal. Way overkill I know, but I was a little upset and wanted to kill this varmint with one shot. Ive got a couple of scatter guns, a 380, a customized Beretta FS92, and a couple of 22s, but sometimes smaller calibers are not enough for a clean kill, so I went big. She really was our prize hen, guess my choice of dispatching tool was rather emotionally charged. I wouldn't have used it if I'd have known she would have sprung back to life, she was barely twitching when I shot the snake, and I thought she would have died anyway when I fired the shot. I was really trying not to hit the eggs and I couldn't quite clearly see where her head was.....anyway, turned out she was okay for the most part except for several deep lacerations, which would have been a serious issue themselves, and a lot of missing feathers. Her head and comb were saturated with blood also when she jumped out, which lends me to believe there was some sort of battle before the snake wrapped her up. Next time I won't let myself get upset about it and I'll just stick to .22 cal snake/bird shot. I've got a nice over/under .22/20 gauge that will now become my varmint gun.

[Comanche County]

I first walked out and saw the snake wrapped around the hen and I thought she was already dead, so I went back inside and grabbed my S&W M&P Sub Compact 40 Cal. Way overkill I know, but I was a little upset and wanted to kill this varmint with one shot. Ive got a couple of scatter guns, a 380, a customized Beretta FS92, and a couple of 22s, but sometimes smaller calibers are not enough for a clean kill, so I went big. She really was our prize hen, guess my choice of dispatching tool was rather emotionally charged. I wouldn't have used it if I'd have known she would have sprung back to life, she was barely twitching when I shot the snake, and I thought she would have died anyway when I fired the shot. I was really trying not to hit the eggs and I couldn't quite clearly see where her head was.....anyway, turned out she was okay for the most part except for several deep lacerations, which would have been a serious issue themselves, and a lot of missing feathers. Her head and comb were saturated with blood also when she jumped out, which lends me to believe there was some sort of battle before the snake wrapped her up. Next time I won't let myself get upset about it and I'll just stick to .22 cal snake/bird shot. I've got a nice over/under .22/20 gauge that will now become my varmint gun.