Another Dead Poultry thread...

[MossflowerWoods]

So I had a terrible problem years back with foxes etc. when we & the neighbors all free ranged our birds and I am not interested in opening that back up...

I keep my birds in an old woodshed with a dirt floor an a large chicken wire and welded wire pen.

I have a gate/door to the chicken shack that is made of welded 1/8" steel rods. I usually place a board over the bottom of this gate.

So I've also had issues with black snakes stealing my eggs... Keep this in mind...

So a couple weeks ago I was feeling confident as I had not lost a bird to predation in well over a year... I did not lock them in a couple nights and something crawled up onto the roof or ??? and climbed down into the pen and ripped the throat out on one of my laying ducks, and my one winged chicken vanished. I know she did not fly out so I'm assuming this was a raccoon or opossum...

Cut to this morning. I put the chickens & ducks to bed, closed the gate/door last night. Today I walk in to a dead drake (male) duck. no blood, no obvious wounds, but his head and neck is wet and slimy. based on the pattern of wetness and flat spots etc (yet no tracks), I have a suspicion what might have happened.

Before I tell you, do you have any ideas?

Thanks in advance, be well,
David

 

[deerseeker001]

It sounds like a snake to me.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

It sounds like a snake to me.

I was wondering if the black snakes I've been dealing with were constrictors, and if it tried to eat the duck and gave up, spitting it out in effect...
That is what the engineer in me thinks.

Interesting...

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Can anyone confirm snakes are capable of regurgitation? Just curious...

David

 

[oosik]

I've seen a bull snake in dire straits, trying to regurgitate a mouse. I didn't stay around to see the outcome, it was pretty gross. So I can say with certainty that they sure try. He could of been just trying to "unstick" it from in his throat and get a better angle to swallow it.

The authority on this(Smithsonian) says the black rat snake kills by constriction and that all snakes can regurgitate. Yuck - - -

 

[k0ua]

Dave I am buying in to your snake theory: yes they are constrictors.



Black rat snakes on the other hand are shiny black animals with occasional light traces of a blotched pattern on their backs. While much slower moving than racers, they are incredibly agile when it comes to climbing. They, or their shed skins, can sometimes be found among the rafters of outbuildings, along rock walls, or in trees high above the ground. Their unique climbing abilities allow them to ascend the trunks of mature trees which they sometimes do in search of prey which includes birds and small mammals. A large black rat snake is a powerful constrictor and can kill and eat a full grown gray squirrel.

 

[lockhaven]

Snakes can regurgitate, it is the size of a duck vs the size of the black snake that puzzles me. Black Snakes do not get gig enough to eat an adult duck. I kept two Burmese Pythons that were just shy of 7 feet and as big around as a coffee mug and they maxed out on guinea pigs. Not saying a snake would not make a mistake because one of the pythons tried to eat my hand one time. Also unless the black snake got the duck by the neck they just do not have the power to kill a large duck.

 

[J F]

Eyes bigger than stomach syndrome? :confused3:

 

[MoKelly]

Not saying a snake would not make a mistake because one of the pythons tried to eat my hand one time.

Now that is not a good thing at all. You kept Pythons as pets? My goodness, I suggest you take up dogs!Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[MD83Z]

Black rat snake killed one of my small chickens this spring. It was a small snake and a bird way too big for it to eat...so i found the snake sitting there next to the dead bird...The chicken was about 1/4 size of a full size chicken. I have found snakes sitting after eating eggs too.