A snake ate all three of my chicks last night. I feel just awful about it. It was my job to protect them and instead, I left them with no way of escape and easy prey for a snake.
My original plan when I started the incubation was to keep them in the house after they hatched. Our house is a long ranch style (or rambler as some people call it) that has one end that can be closed off if unused. We usually keep the door closed and the A/C off at that end of the house. With the A/C off, the temperature would have been right for the chicks and they would be safe from all predators.
But, we had a guest arrive and have had to keep the A/C on for him, which makes it too cold for the chicks, so I had to adjust my plans. The garage is just way too hot during the day, but the chicken coop stays at a pretty even temperature since it's in the shade. That's why I chose the coop, knowing that there was a possibility of a snake getting in there, but feeling I had no choice.
So a month of fretting over regulating the incubator temperature and turning eggs three times a day was all for nought. The last four have not hatched. I'll have to start all over again.
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5 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear this. BUT, you can start again and be that much wiser. If only you could figure out how to get your current chickens to hatch their own..you probably wouldn't have to worry much since the hens would probably eat the snake.
Yeah, I'd like to get the chickens to hatch their own, but I'm not sure how to get them to do it.
And they do eat snakes, but this one was too big for them. It was still in the bucket hiding under the hay. The chicks were it's last meal.
Condolences for your chick loss. So many predators, only so much a farmer can do.
Do you mean that the snake has now gone to meet its maker?
Yes, my husband killed the snake. There's another one still getting in the coop, though. Since I'm leaving eggs in one of the nesting boxes in hopes that a chicken will start brooding, a snake got in there one night and ate FIVE eggs. It's probably off digesting somewhere and will be back when it's hungry again. I've been watching for it because if we can catch it, we're going to kill it, too.
It kind of gives me the creeps knowing that there are snakes lurking all around and I can't see them.
Yes, they are so darn quiet!!!
Speaking of snakes, we just got back from camping and my (8 yr old) son got a nifty picture of a rather thin snake with the leg of a very large frog down it's throat.
Eventually the snake gave up but not before my son got a couple of good shots. We're going to enter it in the park photo contest.
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