Chook ate a snake!

This topic contains 14 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by dirty boy 7 years, 8 months ago.

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March 11, 2012 at 7:40 pm #256733

fruitful
Member

I was sitting on the back verandah today with my daughter who has a tummy bug, we were just trying to relax and I was trying to take her mind off being sick when one of our white laying hens runs over toward the house with the other white hen in hot pursuit. As we watch they start to do that thing where one has a tasty morsel and the other really wants it – when they got close enough we realised that it was a baby snake and sure enough chookie drops it on the ground and it starts writhing in pain as she keeps pecking at it. We recognised it from the markings on its head as a baby eastern brown (we had one in the house a few weeks ago and got a snake catcher in who let us see it closely and gave some very good advice etc before taking it away) and it was already half dead as it certainly wasn’t as active as the one in our house.

Anyway, we put the dogs inside and even though I had the heebee jeebees in a really bad way we stayed out to make sure that the snake didn’t get away from the chooks – they were right under the verandah and I imagine the snake would have been in a very bad mood if it got away. Sure enough they pecked it to death and then right before our eyes one of the chooks slurped it down like a long spaghetti :jawdrop:

That was about four hours ago and we’re keeping an eye on the two white girls to see if one of them drops dead?!? I may boycott the white eggs for a week or so. :sick:

The snake was probably a bit thicker in width than a pencil and was around 15-20cms long.

:blink:

March 11, 2012 at 8:05 pm #521949

penny
Member

NINJA chooks!!!!!!!!!

March 11, 2012 at 8:51 pm #521950

Greth
Member

Chickens hate snakes or anything that looks like them (try a long stick and you see them get into fighting mode) They have done the job for you, feel safe now, your ninja chooks defend!

March 11, 2012 at 9:10 pm #521951

mistyhollows
Member

penny post=340228 wrote: NINJA chooks!!!!!!!!!

:laugh: :tup: :clap:

March 11, 2012 at 9:13 pm #521952

ballamara
Keymaster

Thank goodness for Ninja chook. That is one less snake that will grow up and terrorise your domain. I hate snakes if you didn’t notice…..mind you am scared stiff of them too.

March 11, 2012 at 10:13 pm #521953

Bandicoot Valley
Member

Ninja Chook! Love it!

March 11, 2012 at 11:38 pm #521954

Greth
Member

Dont worry about the eggs, even little browns are very poisonous, and if this one had bit your chook would have died hours ago. They are all fine, no bites. Score 1 for the chicken, 0 for the snake. Shes a ninja give her a treat tomorrow.

March 12, 2012 at 12:07 am #521955

bluezbandit
Member

I’ve seen my chooks attack stray birds that fly into their yard in the vicious way. They kill it and when I go back there is no sign of it so they must have eaten it as well. They get plenty of protein in their diet, so its not that they are hungry. They just hate the birds eating their wheat.

March 12, 2012 at 12:34 am #521956

lmd80
Member

That is great! I hope my chooks are like that! Their yard is near our boundary with long grass on the other side and I’m always worrying about snakes!

March 12, 2012 at 9:45 am #521957

Bel
Member

Reminds me of the Snugglepot & Cuddlepie stories and the kookaburra who was always eating snakes. Obviously a bird delicacy! My chooks love mice, you should see them fight over one when they manage to catch it. They also attack some birds, but there’s a hierarchy. Most of the pigeons/doves are acceptable whereas the noisy miner birds and piping shrikes are always chased out of the yard.

March 12, 2012 at 10:47 am #521958

fruitful
Member

yep, ninja chook is alive and well this morning, i can’t help but think that the reason for her success was that she had the snake by the head – at one point the two girls had a tug of war with it – and so it was unable to “bite back”.

probably a silly question but what about the venom? thinking about it there are many things like centipedes that the girls eat etc and we haven’t had any bad effects yet!! nice to know we have another line of defence against snakes though, don’t think i would have believed it if i hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

March 12, 2012 at 9:45 pm #521959

Gumnut
Member

:jawdrop: Ninja chicken indeed! Glad she’s ok!

March 13, 2012 at 12:01 am #521960

Bron
Member

They’re pretty amazing creatures, aren’t they!

We had a snake in our backyard, just a grass snake. Our chook stepped on it, looked at the snake and went ‘meh’. Snake looked back and said ‘meh’ and both went on their merry ways :laugh:

March 15, 2012 at 11:21 pm #521961

fruitful
Member

well, I have to say, I’m feeling better about the whole incident. Glad you people had a very different perspective on this ordeal. I was a nervous wreck and felt quite sick from the whole thing but have come to realise that there is a very positive take on this situation.

On Sunday (5 days ago and 1 day before the incident) we released 6 guinea keets from their enclosure, they, along with the three guinea fowl (who are parents and uncle) AND the peafowl AND the cats and dogs AND our own awareness should serve us in good stead of an otherwise feared (by me greatly) and unappreciated part of our natual environment. I mean, really, I wanted to move to the country didn’t I – and I’m living my dream now – so surely I need to accept the whole package and not just the perks???

Quietly, I’m thinking this is easier said than done but I will try my best.

Thanks to you all…. :kiss:

March 16, 2012 at 9:14 am #521962

dirty boy
Member

venim? interesting question … so if the venom goes into the digestive system, not the circulatory system, the chook lives/thrives. cool https://www.aussieslivingsimply.com.au/components/com_kunena/template/default/images/emoticons/wink.png
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