First Sandlas, now Buddie and Miss Dee are gone.

Sandals was a Birchen Cochin hen, she died several months ago (maybe 6), not sure from what.
Miss Dee and Buddie were also Birchen Cochins and they were both sitting on eggs. A few days ago we found Buddie dead. We thought maybe she didn't get up enough and starved herself, Miss Dee, now with all the eggs, had been sitting and we were keeping an eye on her. This morning she was dead, yesterday she was fine. The strange thing that we noticed is that both of them had their wings up. Another thing is that all the eggs are gone. We are thinking maybe a snake got the eggs and wrapped itself around them killing them because they put up too much fuss? What do you think?

Buddie was a fiesty little hen that loved to hop up on my sons leg and sit there. Miss Dee was a sweetheart and the sweetest Birchen we had. Now all we have left is Bob the roo and Blunkers, which is one of the offspring from last years hatching. Blunkers is more like Buddie and is fiesty.

We will miss them, the kids are of course upset.

This picture is of Bob, Sandals, Buddie and Miss Dee. Now all gone except Bob.

Oh how very sad! I also hate not knowing why any of my animals died. I don't know whether a snake would kill something too big to eat but it certainly sounds like whatever took the eggs also killed the hen.

the same thing happened to 2 of my chickens. i blame it on snakes. killed my chickens ate the eggs

oh how horrible. I am so sorry for you and the children. I just order some lg snake/ rat glue traps off e-Bay. I have rats already. They come out of the woods. I had no idea the snakes would kill the chickens

We didn't know they would kill them either. We caught one in another pen eating a hens eggs, but it didn't harm the hen, of course it is gone, my husband took care of it.

Snake/rat glue traps? I'll have to check that. We have seen some rats too and have eliminated some, but I know there has to be more.

They were beautiful hens. So sorry to hear this. I was thinking about using something other than 1/2 inch hardware cloth for my pens, but now I'm thinking 1/2" is best. That would keep the big snakes out.

That's just awful, and to such gorgeous birds. I am so sorry.

I suppose if it was snake venom it would kill them pretty fast.

I'm so sorry to hear that, that's just awful for your whole family. Amazing how attached we get to our chickens, isn't it? Hope you're able to find out what happened, the traps sound like a good idea.

Sorry to hear bout it..

I have had Coral snakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths attack hens while they are on sitting on nest of eggs. They just crawl under the hens after they have been bit and eat the eggs. Now I have guard turkeys which they keep the henhouses cleaned of snakes!..LOL..

Moodene, what kind of turkeys do you have?

What a great solution!

Red Bronze. I have 2 males that grew up together and they defend off hawks as well..break up rooster fights..etc. I like using the Heritage breed turkeys.

So sorry,

Thanks all. What makes this even worse is that I lost my beloved Buffy last night to a hawk. She was a Buff Orpington and very very sweet. She was a smaller Buff, had a tiny face. I miss her a lot. My heart is broken.

Oh, No! So sorry!

Oh..man..so sorry...Here

Awww smidge im so sorry to hear about your losses.are your hens/nests in a pen? the reason i asked is because a snake that made it thru the chickenwire before feeding would not be able to make it back out of the same size space.It could still be hiding inside the pen digesting so be careful!

Yes, they are all in pens, but this snake found a hole underthrough.

I am so very sorry for your losses.