Incubation Pause

Our chixperiment is progressing better than I expected, with our live chick count at 23.

We are very pleased with our results so far, the chicks are healthy and growing. This is Angus, the rooster....along with the 3 CornishX hens that have produced all the chicks.

I have been adding eggs to the incubator every 5 days or so....until this week. I was planning to collect the eggs one evening when to my surprise, there were none. I knew there had been at least 7 in the nest that morning...so my first guess was that we had a snake in the henhouse. Levi pulled up one of the floorboards to the adjacent hay storage area and sure enough.....

A very large Texas Rat Snake with a belly full of eggs!! After getting a few pictures of him, we took him down to the river and let him go. Rat Snakes are very nice to have around to keep mice and rats in check, but once they develop a fondness for eggs they don't stop. We don't kill non-venomous snakes, but relocate them.This guy is well fattened and should make it through the winter just fine while he settles into his new home a-w-a-y from our home!