Homestead Happenings: Horror Edition!

I now know that big rat snakes are not averse to a young and tender chicken dinner.

My own photo. Since I hadn't brought my phone to the barn, I got no pictures of the action while it happened.

---

Prologue

Apparently we've just been lucky all this time. We've known since moving in here that our barn had a resident snake, since we've found its shedded skin several times and the Husband startled it inside a cabinet once. We assumed it was one of the black racers that are plentiful around here, and left it alone to help manage the rodent population.

---

The Incident!

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, Pixie and I happily went out to the chicken coop as usual--to let the big chickens out to free range till bedtime, and check on the 8-week-old chicks' food and water. Pixie pushed the door open, and we stood aside while the big chickens trotted out just as usual. I shooshed at them so they'd not dally around the barn pooping everywhere, while Pixie stepped into the coop, and next thing I knew, I heard her gasp in shock and then exclaim "Mommy!! There's a snake! A snake is getting one of the chicks!" as she rushed back out of the coop.

I nearly collided with her in the doorway since I was simultaneously rushing into the coop, and then momentarily stood dumbfounded at the weird scene of Cookie, lying sideways on the ground and feebly struggling--barely kicking, really--against thick black coils wrapped several times around her body, though the kicked up dirt showed she'd put up a decent fight initially. It was truly a ball of wriggling shiny scales and fluffy feathers. Blackie had somehow escaped the chick pen and was running around, while the Sassies and Oreo all crowded on the opposite side of the pen and cheeped frantically.

My first thought was to shoot the snake, but I immediately dismissed that as impractical. Being a resourceful woman, I opted instead to run to the barn door and yell across the yard for the Husband, who came on the run with Little Man.

The kids' reactions were interesting: Pixie was scared for Cookie, but calm; she wasn't freaked out or afraid of the snake at all. Little Man thinks snakes were awesome (and wants a pet one), so rather than being at all worried about Cookie, he was absolutely delighted at the opportunity to see a snake up close. In fact the Husband had to chase both kids away from the action!

The Husband's solution to dispatching the snake was to grab its tail through the wire, pull it out of the chick pen (half dismantling the pen in the process, because the snake naturally objected to this treatment), toss it into the open and mostly behead it with a shovel. It continued to twitch and even slowly crawl, much to Little Man's fascination.

We honestly thought Cookie was a goner. Saliva was dripping from her gaping beak, her eyes were closed, and her body was limp. "She's still breathing," said the Husband as he cradled her, and bit by bit, she began to open her eyes more and regain strength. After 15-20 minutes she was still subdued, but definitely alive! She is back to normal today. What a close call!!

My own photo.

---

About Rat Snakes.

I pulled out the Audobon Field Guide and discovered that what we assumed was a black racer was actually a rat snake. We thought this one was big at 6 feet long, but these snakes can grow up to 8.5 feet long! They are constrictors, too; black racers are not. This one was plain black, but they can also be striped or blotched, and there are several subspecies. "Black" is one of the subspecies.

Interesting is the fact that this particular snake was out and scouting chicken for dinner during the day, since the field guide says that rat snakes are nocturnal during the summer and active in daytime in the spring and fall. I guess it's not hot enough here yet to trigger rat snakes' nocturnal habits. They are good climbers and typically eat birds, eggs, and rodents, but will also eat lizards and other small animals. Captive rat snakes have lived over 20 years!

---

Another homesteading lesson under our belts!

I feel quite bad that this big fellow ended up dead, but it did dawn on me that in the past week or two, I've been surprised a few times that the chickens didn't lay as many eggs as usual, so I believe he's been visiting the coop awhile. Lesson learned to reinforce the chick pen with hardware cloth or chicken wire, and look for holes in the coop to plug up again. Here I took measures against rats at night, and never dreamed of a daytime attack by a rat snake!

I'll be interested to see in the future if it was actually our resident snake, or an interloper. I'm hoping this snake was a newcomer and that our "barn snake," which never bothered the chickens or eggs before, is still around :)