Lost This Clutch Of Bluebirds

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
We've been doing really well with raising bluebirds this year, were on our way to fledging 25 by my count. But this morning this fellow was peeking out of the house when I went to do my morning check. Don't know how he got around the baffle on the pipe, it usually works pretty well at keeping them out.

We don't kill the Rat snakes on our property cause they're so good at vermin control, but I guess this is the price we occasionally have to pay........

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Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have been wrangling rat snakes for the past two days out of the chicken pen. The wife hollered at me while I was in the shower Saturday night that something was in the chicken pen and the chickens were going nuts.....so I ran out of the shower and pulled on a pair of shorts and out into the yard in my bare feet to find a 5 foot rat snake in the nest boxes. I grabbed him and put him in a feed sack to be let go at a later time on Sunday AM, only to find that he had escaped sometime Sunday AM after I checked early AM.
Fast forward to last night, I was late taking my shower and about the time I went to get in I heard the chickens hollering, I figured ol no-shoulders was back and sure enough he was. Back in the same nest box. This time he went into the same bag and I toted him off immediately to a nearby pond where he could eat all the frogs he wanted.
They are so useful that unless I catch them full of my new chicks, they generally get a reprieve.
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I have been wrangling rat snakes for the past two days out of the chicken pen. The wife hollered at me while I was in the shower Saturday night that something was in the chicken pen and the chickens were going nuts.....so I ran out of the shower and pulled on a pair of shorts and out into the yard in my bare feet to find a 5 foot rat snake in the nest boxes. I grabbed him and put him in a feed sack to be let go at a later time on Sunday AM, only to find that he had escaped sometime Sunday AM after I checked early AM.
Fast forward to last night, I was late taking my shower and about the time I went to get in I heard the chickens hollering, I figured ol no-shoulders was back and sure enough he was. Back in the same nest box. This time he went into the same bag and I toted him off immediately to a nearby pond where he could eat all the frogs he wanted.
They are so useful that unless I catch them full of my new chicks, they generally get a reprieve.


Kudos for the catch and release, ER. Most folks would've hoed him to death.
 

ncscrubmaster

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I would be spending 10.00 at the credit union on a new house. I would blow him clean out the back. Those things make my skin crawl. I know they have a purpose but damn.
 

Castle Oak 2

Six Pointer
Do you have any overhanging limbs? I've watched rat snakes "jump" from surrounding trees to access wood duck nest boxes.
 
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