McFadden Ranch

Today when I went to check for eggs I discovered that our big gorgeous Buff Orpington rooster was dead, lying in the back left corner of the upper chicken pen. I was sad. He was beautiful. He was the son of another outstanding Buff Orpington rooster that we started with and we were so happy to have his offspring. As I went around the corner of the pen to lift the coop doors to check for eggs in the nest, I looked down at the bottom corner of the chicken pen. To my utter shock I saw a rattlesnake tail sticking out of a rodent hole that was in the same corner that coincided with the dead rooster on the inside. I counted one, two, three, four, oh no, ten or eleven buttons! But, it wasn’t moving. Maybe it was dead. I called Jim to let him know. I ran up to the house to retrieve a hoe, a gun and a flashlight. I maneuvered the flashlight beam into the back corner from the front of the chicken pen and there he was, behind the dead rooster. I saw the flick of a tongue. He was alive. And I had three more hens in the cage. Jim stayed on the phone with me. We concluded that the goal was to keep the snake in the pen. If he tried to get out of the rodent hole, then I could kill him with a hoe. We decided it wouldn’t be best to try to shoot the snake from my position as I would have to shoot through the chicken wire and avoid a rock that the snake was using as partial shelter. The other goal was to try to save the three hens from getting bitten by the snake. This was very tricky as they kept wandering into the back of the pen where the rooster lay and within inches of the snake. I scurried and gathered tomato branches, worms, and anything else I could see to give to the hens to distract them and keep them at the front end of the pen. I couldn’t go into the pen through the primary entrance in the wire enclosed portion to close the weather doors to the wood chicken house where the snake was hiding because that would have sent the hens running to the back and right into the snake. Luckily I was successful in keeping the hens away from the snake until Jim arrived. But my heart raced as I watched them walk within inches of losing their lives several times. When Jim got here he went into the pen with a rake and a shovel. He successfully protected the hens while the snake struck at his shovel. He killed it and saved the day and saved his wife from more stress. I hate losing the animals we raise for senseless reasons. I know the rooster was trying to protect our hens and he lost his life for it. I am ever so thankful that we did not lose more hens and that our dogs did not discover the rattlesnake. We lost a hen earlier this year to a large gopher snake and I was shocked at that. All the years I lived on a ranch prior to moving to Lakeside I do not ever remember losing a chicken to a snake. Though we have had some recent showers, we must remember that we are still in a severe drought. Animals of all types are on the hunt for water and they are hunting for prey that is looking for water. This year has yielded some unusual activity because of that. Typically, we don’t kill rattlesnakes when we are hiking or visiting remote areas. However, we did eliminate this rattlesnake due to its proximity to livestock and human activity. We will be using the skin as a hatband and saving the meat for a special occasion. Needless to say, gathering eggs is no longer just a happy-go-lucky chore. I now watch much more carefully due to this year’s snake activity. (Note: Photos of the rattlesnake can be seen at: https://www.facebook.com/McFadden-Ranch-136314514167/timeline/