- Nov 26, 2013
- 22
- 0
- 22
Hi All,
Well I got the scare of the year when I came home and my flock (16) wouldn't leave my backyard or follow me. I live on 3 acres with 3 dogs, a horse and 16 chickens. I've had my babies (chickens) for a year now with a nice coop. I have lived in my home since 1998. I have a nice coop with 2 levels of nests off the ground. 1st level is 3 feet, 2nd level is 5 feet. Came home today and my flock was in my back yard which is unusual. They wouldn't follow me to their pasture. Again, weird. I went to gather the eggs and they were all in one nest. Unusual. I stood up (I'm 5'8") and to my horror there was a large snake in between 2 nesting boxes. I ran and got a pair of hedge clippers and grabbed this fat guy by the neck. I then cut his head off. In the meantime a 2nd big fatty fat fat snake slithered toward an escape route. I ran and got my wood splitting maul and smacked by crap out of him. Needless to say, my little flock, my horse, my dogs not to mention myself(!) was totally upset. I measured these snakes and they were slightly over 4 feet. They got some of my eggs and scared the crap out of me. My flock finally settled down. I guess my point is to those who are new to raising chicks, as am I, please be aware. I'm in California and with this "drought" I guess I better get prepared for new and exciting things. Again, I've lived here since '98 and I've never seen a snake here, let along 2 as big as that.
Thank the Lord they were big gopher snakes and not rattle snakes. However, this prepares me for a possibility I never thought of. I will get anti venom for my dogs, and horse, and totally take precautions now that I had a pre-snake visit.
Thanks for reading.
Katy Oh
Well I got the scare of the year when I came home and my flock (16) wouldn't leave my backyard or follow me. I live on 3 acres with 3 dogs, a horse and 16 chickens. I've had my babies (chickens) for a year now with a nice coop. I have lived in my home since 1998. I have a nice coop with 2 levels of nests off the ground. 1st level is 3 feet, 2nd level is 5 feet. Came home today and my flock was in my back yard which is unusual. They wouldn't follow me to their pasture. Again, weird. I went to gather the eggs and they were all in one nest. Unusual. I stood up (I'm 5'8") and to my horror there was a large snake in between 2 nesting boxes. I ran and got a pair of hedge clippers and grabbed this fat guy by the neck. I then cut his head off. In the meantime a 2nd big fatty fat fat snake slithered toward an escape route. I ran and got my wood splitting maul and smacked by crap out of him. Needless to say, my little flock, my horse, my dogs not to mention myself(!) was totally upset. I measured these snakes and they were slightly over 4 feet. They got some of my eggs and scared the crap out of me. My flock finally settled down. I guess my point is to those who are new to raising chicks, as am I, please be aware. I'm in California and with this "drought" I guess I better get prepared for new and exciting things. Again, I've lived here since '98 and I've never seen a snake here, let along 2 as big as that.
Thank the Lord they were big gopher snakes and not rattle snakes. However, this prepares me for a possibility I never thought of. I will get anti venom for my dogs, and horse, and totally take precautions now that I had a pre-snake visit.
Thanks for reading.
Katy Oh
