Mystery in the henhouse

Exactly what’s up when the egg count's down? Since my hens started laying in September, 2010, I've kept a daily record of the number of eggs laid. But something hasn't been right for several days now. 

From my 14 laying hens (20 pullets, hatched in May, have yet to lay), I normally get 10-12 eggs per day, but lately that has dropped to about 8 eggs per day.

 I’ve thought and rethought the many alternatives:

-       the extremely hot and dry weather we’ve had here in south Texas

-       early molt (and that would be a very early molting season)

-       hidden nest  where they sneak off to lay eggs when they’re free-ranging (not unheard of with these girls!)

-       fear from the howling coyotes at night or constantly circling chicken hawks in the daytime

-       illness or disease

I’m happy to report that the mystery was solved today. When I went to collect eggs, I noticed the girls were a little more chatty (or should I say clucky) than normal, but didn’t think too much of it.

When I reached into the top row of nesting boxes I got quite a shock.  There was a large chicken snake with its unhinged jaw around an egg. Without thinking, I grabbed it by the tail and threw it on the ground, which had the nice effect of getting the snake out of the hen house, and the egg out of its mouth (unbroken too, for the record).

Then I had to deal with a very angry, but fortunately not poisonous snake. Did you know that chicken snakes will strike, just like a water moccasin or rattlesnake? I didn’t either, and believe me it’s pretty scary when it does.

The happy ending to the story is that I didn’t get bitten, and the chicken snake didn’t get killed. I put it in a pillow case and released it down by the river, at least ¾ of a mile away from the hen house. Here’s a cell phone picture (I apologize for the quality) of me holding the snake before I took it down to the river.