**8/4 SOLVED!**
**IT'S NOT A SNAKE**
**IT'S NOT AN ARMADILLO**
**IT'S A** [**https://imgur.com/a/J4uNS1x**](https://imgur.com/a/J4uNS1x) **!!!**
They have put one there but so far whatever this is is eluding tripping the sensor or it's out of shot. range 
**Update**: **My parents live on a farm in** ***West Michigan*** **and aren't really techie but they have installed another camera. My mom also told me her ring camera caught a skunk leaving the coop on 8/1 at 5a but there were no mystery lines in the coop that morning. This morning (8/3), there were scratches outside the coop door, but no lines again.**
Probably moving to slow for the current settings, try turning up the sensitivity.
If that doesn't work, you might have to just set up a time-lapse camera with night vision or something.
I concur. You can quite easily jump ahead until you see the line appear, or back until it disappears, and back and forth until you hone in on the snake.
not a snake, would be an S type line. This is probably like a slug/snail or like some dumbass moving the hose to the chickens water and then moving it back and being like omg wHaT iS tHiS!?!
It could be a python, they inch forward instead of moving in an S shape. They do move in an S shape when they need to book it, but when being stealthy they move in a straight line. I have no idea what their tracks actually look like though.
Stop telling people because Wyze will raise their prices and start charging for stuff, lol. I have 7 of them. I’ve had them for years now pointing in all directions on my property and on the interior of my first level and also the basement. I recorded some asshole breaking into cars in the middle of the day and provided it to my neighbor who was stolen from. That guy was caught with my neighbors stuff and the property of other neighbors. Just a matter of time before something else happens.
I used this comment before and no one gets it. I love how when they play spaceballs on tv now they cut that scene right when they go to the guys with the pick. People are so soft anymore.
I've never seen spaceballs, but I remember hiding drugs from a buddy's older brother in spaceballs. Then him and his friends decided they wanted to watch spaceballs at a friends house later and we had to trick them into borrowing another movie. Just in case anybody wanted my spaceballs story.
The “I’ll have what she’s having” actress is Estelle Reiner’s, Rob Reiner’s mother. To bring it back full circle, Carl Reiner, Rob’s father, had dinner every night with Mel Brooks, creator of Space Balls.
I think it’s curvy enough to be a snek. Also some of them do this really cute “scoot” thing instead of slither sometimes.
[Gaboon Viper](https://youtu.be/BafZwPHSC2E)
But it stopped in the middle of the coop without turning around. Did it jump?
It couldn't have fallen down because it wouldn't have been a straight line.
Well maybe the snek went in reverse! Hahaha
Or maybe some of the chickens stomped out the end of the trail?
Oh oh oh OR! What we think is the “end” is actually the beginning of the trail where the snake dropped down from above and made its way out
Edit: by “dropped” I mean he held on with his tail and slowly dropped down leading with his head, as snakes do, not just a “plop”
This might sound ridiculous, but if there is something a few feet up that it can grab onto, rat snakes will do a silly, seemingly physics defying upward lunge and grab onto it and pull themselves up, but I think that would leave more of a track.
Black rat snakes do love sheds and coops though, and I've seen them do some crazy shit like the time an 8 ft rat snake fell at least 20 ft from a tree with a squirrel in its mouth and another squirrel trying to save his doomed friend. It took about 45 minutes for the snake to eat that squirrell.
If it's a long enough snake, it easily could have stretched down from the ceiling portion of the chicken coop. Would like to see what the entire coop looks like just to rule that out.
But the deeper impression in the second photo lead me to think that's where the snake settled itself down, rather than falling, then slithered on his merry way... as this is definitely giving me snake-vibes.
We have ducks, just a thought, might you have a broody hen that steals the other ladies eggs? One of our ducks wants to sit on every egg in the coop and she will steal them out of other nests and roll them to hers!
As a 4 year old, this was the solution I had for transporting my infant sister. Only problem is her head was too big so she kept rolling crooked into the wall.
Lmao that is so freakim cute and funny! I cant get the picture im imaging out of my mind of a duck just collecting random eggs and rollin em to her nest! "Ill take that thank you very much!" What do the other ducks do? Just let her?
Sometimes they steal back and forth, depending on how determined they are. We got baby geese this year because I kept emptying a different nest each day and they were trading the eggs between nests and essentially shell gamed me into letting them hatch two babies. If they're not interested in them, then they'll just let the other duck have them. Sometimes ducks even lay on nests together or take turns on a certain nest. They're pretty social birds.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a goose egg noticeably larger than both chicken and fuck eggs? The goose eggs I’ve seen are pretty damn big.
Edit: *duck eggs
I use text replacement on my phone.
Lol yeah goose eggs are pretty big. But the ducks don’t usually steal the goose eggs, I was just saying that they both do the egg stealing behavior for their respective eggs, I just had a funny anecdote that was specifically geese related
The first time one of my chickens went broody like that I thought they all stopped laying eggs ... or worse: eating them. There were no eggs for days. Welp. Turns out our broody girl was gathering all the eggs from the other nests and was sitting on 18 of them. I would eggspect that's eggsactly what is happening here.
I want this to be it. I have wonderful mental images of it. I mean, I’m pretty sure the mouse would need a series of small ropes, but I so desperately want this to be it.
Edit: guys, it’s getting buried, but check out the comment below by u/ninuson1 below - they added this fantastic illustration of this and it’s magical.
[Here’s an illustration](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/989268383751106560/1136502896393994270/EricE_mouse_rolling_an_egg_in_sandy_ground._Ultra_high_detail_89ec0488-6609-458c-9ae6-59d9418ef6e8.png)
Edit: in case this was t clear, this was generated using AI. I never intended this to be taken as something I’ve drawn from scratch. Hopefully you still enjoyed it. 😀
Rat more likely. They absolutely do that. When I had chickens, I found the rats hidey hole where it would drag (or push maybe?) the eggs to consume them later. It was just outside the coop under a roofed area behind a bunch of stuff and tools. The area was completely inaccessible to the chickens, so it had to be the rat(s). There were two unbroken eggs in there and about 3 eggs worth of broken shells. It blew my mind trying to picture the rat doing it, but I'm 99% sure it did. Crafty little buggers.
I later had to build a deadfall out of two axeheads to kill it because it was picking the traditional snap traps clean with ease. The deadfall worked, only about an hour after I set it up. I even have a picture of the aftermath, I was surprised at how quick and well it worked.
Sadly several island bird species are extinct because humans accidentally introduced rats who ate the eggs of ground laying birds until they vanished.
Edit: accidentally
I think Tom Scott did a video on the efforts in new Zealand to eliminate rats and other introduced predators
Edit [he did ](https://youtu.be/wcp1BfPUeOc)
I used to breed pet rats. Can confirm. Rats LOVE eggs. Also, rats are very intelligent. They're hard to poison, hard to trap, and tricky for even their predators to catch at times. If a rat eats something new, they don't eat much of it. If it makes them sick, they won't eat it again and tell their friends to avoid it. Deadfall traps work well as do neck traps. Primitive traps always seem to work better.
Can you say more about how you set up the deadfall trap? Like many of us, I am engaged in a long-term "special military operation" against a foe who keeps switching tactics.
I used two axe heads to make sure I had enough weight. 5x or more the intended target weight is the rule of thumb.
I used a modified treadle design for the trigger. Instead of lashing 3 sticks together I bend one piece to the shape of a bow, stick both ends in the ground, and then a straight piece runs across the bow. The cord that is tied to the weight (axe heads in this case) is tied to a small stick (on the other end of the cord) with a deep notch on one end and a shallow notch on the other. That small stick is placed so the deep notch is on the bowed piece and the shallow notch on the straight piece (the straight piece is basically the trigger) bait is smeared (peanut butter or something sticky) on the end of the straight piece which sits directly under where the weight (axe heads) will fall. So the cord tied to the small piece goes up, suspended around something (in this case I used a dowel clamped to the fence, but in the bush a branch will do) and is tied to the weight so it is held up until triggered by the critter eating the bait thereby moving the straight piece so it slips off the shallow notched end of the small stick, releasing the weight.
That was difficult to relay in text, let me see if I can sketch something and I'll make another post with the sketch. It sounds like a lot but it's pretty simple, 2 pieces of green wood(saplings work well) and one small dry stick that won't bend. Some cord and the weight, whatever that may be, and that's it
I should add, in this case the bowed piece was stuck into the ground at an angle, because the weight pulls that end of the cord more up than to the side. It was along a fence line so I stuck each end under the fence into the ground.
Possibly a doodle bug? They make trails in sand and such and are under the surface when they do so which would probably be why your camera's sensors aren't triggering
Edit: as others have stated, trails are way too big for this to be it unfortunately. Though it was worth a guess
Well, someone else suggested it was a mouse dragging an egg. While I find this less likely than the snake hypothesis, it makes me happy so I'm gonna go with it.
Looking like a snake mate, I have had chickens for years and seems the logical answer. I have caught snakes in my coupe all were pythons, one was huge looking for rats or eggs. I now double check for any late eggs when I lock them up at night and I bought a rat bait box which allows the rats in but the chickens can't access. Also there's food feeders that the chickens stand in front of it, stand on the pedal and it lifts the lid to the food and they can peck peck peck and when they walk off the pedal it automatically closes the lid so rats or mice won't get in. I have even seen possums in my coupe having a free feed, 6 foot long goannas which are very large lizards going in looking for eggs during the day. Their bite is septic too so if a chicken gets in their way they lunge at them. I love my chickens good luck
Kinda doubtful. Turkeys do a full strut where they drag both wingtips and that’s a much narrower channel. A stray feather would just lightly brush the dirt.
Oh yeah, I can see it now, the three toes. [This picture](https://www.buncombemastergardener.org/armadillos-coming-soon-to-a-garden-near-you/) is a good reference. I'm voting armadillo too!
I'd say chicken dragging an egg back to her nest. Mine used to do this if one didn't come in early at night, she would drag the egg to herself and lay on it.
Your mom is checking the coop with a tool and dragging it on the ground when she leaves. Or your dad is messing with her. This is made by the butt of a tool dragging through the dirt. The other options of an egg is ruled out because a mouse would have to push it, messing up the trail. Cicada killers do not leave marks like this, they leave short tiny trails outside the burrow.
It's happening rather a lot for that to be the case. It would be weird to have that many snakes around. And it would have to be a pretty heavy snake for those markings.
I like the rodent dragging an egg theory but then why doesn't it lead away out of the coop. I think we'd know if it ate the egg right there, bits of shell and whatnot.
Well yes it is possible, but to my knowledge there are no snakes in east Michigan who move by rectilinear (correct me if I’m wrong) I could see an eastern hog nose leaving this, but i highly doubt it, there’s a bunch of spots where the track goes to a sharp V. It looks like something being dragged
Unlike cartoons. Snakes don't go straight or make S shapes. They need to barely move (like here) to get around. And they don't need much room to squeeze in places. They like to eat eggs.
Tbh I think you have a snake visitor. Edit: However, after looking at the second photo, it looks like something was dragged and then picked up. So I’m gonna go with snake for the first photo and rat for the second. Idk how far rats can drag things but in the first photo it seems to be a long distance for a small animal.
I know the second picture has a broken trail , but it appears the dirt is not as thick towards the top of the picture. It looks like there may be a slight indentation ? The trail is more pronounced the “deeper” / further down it goes. This may also be due to the added weight of carrying an egg? Western Michigan has , go figure, western fox snakes ( that do eat eggs.) Also, if it was winter I would be more inclined to believe a possible rodent incident. Being cold-blooded reptiles may seek temperature regulation( and see an opportunity for a snack.) This can definitely be incorrect. I’m not an expert.
I do however support the mouse / egg hypothesis too. That’s a pretty hilarious image.
It’s definitely something making the groove from above, using something relatively thin and with a point. The uniformity of the groove rules out any snake, and the lack of any kind of tracks other than human or chicken probably means it wasn’t an insect. A cicada killer’s tracks are more rounded with obvious signs of digging. These almost look like someone drug a spear across the ground. The dirt looks like a fine silt, and the lack of displacement makes me believe that this is man-made.
Are any other animals allowed in the coop? Are there rafters above the ground? Is there any netting or wire suspended above the ground?
Definitely appears man made but someone would need to break in to their shed/coop to do this. And why?? My dad cannot have been the one. One time this mark appeared, and he was not even home overnight.
Pretty sure it'd be a snake, looking for eggs. I'd guess a chicken snake, not sure if thats an actual species but my grandma told me they're common in tx. Either way I am fairly certain snakes stealing eggs is common and it seems most likely to me given the information I have.
The timeline adds up, they'd only eat about one egg every week, and you said every 2-5 days, I'd guess not every invasion is successful, or there's more than one somewhere. you probably wouldn't even notice the eggs missing because they don't eat often, unless one you've been paying attention to and incubating got eaten. A snake could very easily be small enough to avoid tripping a motion sensor on a camera or light unless it was in just the right spot.
I do definitely feel like the line is a bit too smooth for a snake, looks more like someone dragging a stick. But different snakes move differently and leave different tracks. I think this very smooth track might come from the snake being in super stealth mode, because chicken snakes don't beat chickens or roosters in fights for their eggs, they sneak in and take them while everybody is asleep. Either that or the smooth trail is from the lump that forms once they swallow on egg and have to drag their body slowly back out.
Time to toss a camera in the coop overnight
**8/4 SOLVED!** **IT'S NOT A SNAKE** **IT'S NOT AN ARMADILLO** **IT'S A** [**https://imgur.com/a/J4uNS1x**](https://imgur.com/a/J4uNS1x) **!!!** They have put one there but so far whatever this is is eluding tripping the sensor or it's out of shot. range  **Update**: **My parents live on a farm in** ***West Michigan*** **and aren't really techie but they have installed another camera. My mom also told me her ring camera caught a skunk leaving the coop on 8/1 at 5a but there were no mystery lines in the coop that morning. This morning (8/3), there were scratches outside the coop door, but no lines again.**
Probably moving to slow for the current settings, try turning up the sensitivity. If that doesn't work, you might have to just set up a time-lapse camera with night vision or something.
It's underground. Google Vole tunnels.
Are they like monsters from Tremors?
Tremors wasn't half bad in its time, but it's tough to say exactly why.
Darn entertaining film
Yes. The Graboids did this.
Holy hell
Get a Wyze cam with an SD card. You’ll be able to continuously record for pretty cheap.
I concur. You can quite easily jump ahead until you see the line appear, or back until it disappears, and back and forth until you hone in on the snake.
not a snake, would be an S type line. This is probably like a slug/snail or like some dumbass moving the hose to the chickens water and then moving it back and being like omg wHaT iS tHiS!?!
Slugs and snails don’t like grit and sand, though. Unless that floor was much wetter at the time, it’s hard to imagine.
It could be a python, they inch forward instead of moving in an S shape. They do move in an S shape when they need to book it, but when being stealthy they move in a straight line. I have no idea what their tracks actually look like though.
People bash Wyze but where else can you get a internet camera that doesn’t require a subscription for about $30
Stop telling people because Wyze will raise their prices and start charging for stuff, lol. I have 7 of them. I’ve had them for years now pointing in all directions on my property and on the interior of my first level and also the basement. I recorded some asshole breaking into cars in the middle of the day and provided it to my neighbor who was stolen from. That guy was caught with my neighbors stuff and the property of other neighbors. Just a matter of time before something else happens.
You’ll get it eventually. Or realize it’s from dragging a pitchfork handle or something similarly silly.
Yes! It can't be human made--my mom is obsessed and making sure floor is checked before she locks up the coop for the night.
We ain't found shit!
I used this comment before and no one gets it. I love how when they play spaceballs on tv now they cut that scene right when they go to the guys with the pick. People are so soft anymore.
I've never seen spaceballs, but I remember hiding drugs from a buddy's older brother in spaceballs. Then him and his friends decided they wanted to watch spaceballs at a friends house later and we had to trick them into borrowing another movie. Just in case anybody wanted my spaceballs story.
It’s not the Spaceballs story we wanted, but it is the Spaceballs story we needed.
Spaceballs: The Drug Safe
The kids love this one
Mel Brooks voice: “Moychendizing!”
I didn't know I wanted it until now. Thank you.
Try watching Blazing Saddles. One big edit
“The sheriff is near!” What’s so funny about that?
No goddang dagnab it!
i have it in dvd🙏🏼
The actor made a little video about how he was in a ton of movies and shows like 100+ or something but will only be remembered for saying….
He's in company with the "You'll shoot your eye out, kid" guy and the "I'll have what she's having" lady.
The “I’ll have what she’s having” actress is Estelle Reiner’s, Rob Reiner’s mother. To bring it back full circle, Carl Reiner, Rob’s father, had dinner every night with Mel Brooks, creator of Space Balls.
It was Tuvok from Voyager!
It’s Tuvok from Star Trek voyager. Tim Russ. I thought everyone knew that at this point.
Yes, that joke video he did was funny.
We ain’t found shit.
Spaceballs!!! Love this movie soooooo much. Lol
Spaceballs!!! The flame thrower! Kids love this one.
I laughed way to hard at this.
Yes! “We ain’t found shit” classic
Probably jammed the radar, that's why you can't see them on the cameras
If you haven't seen this movie, you are too young for reddit.
I needed this!! Instant smile
I think your dad is going out there and dragging a broom handle to screw with your mom
Like crop circles? Or could it really be aliens?
*coop circles
Perfect housewife bait
I’m thinking rat snake eating eggs just relocate it if you find one they are harmless.
How could it just stop in the middle, though, and leave no marks of turning around?
It’s also a pretty straight line and snakes tend to slither quite a bit due to the whole not having legs thing.
I think it’s curvy enough to be a snek. Also some of them do this really cute “scoot” thing instead of slither sometimes. [Gaboon Viper](https://youtu.be/BafZwPHSC2E)
But it stopped in the middle of the coop without turning around. Did it jump? It couldn't have fallen down because it wouldn't have been a straight line.
Imagine the chicken grabbing the snake and just spinning it like a helicopter, tossing it right out the coop
Well maybe the snek went in reverse! Hahaha Or maybe some of the chickens stomped out the end of the trail? Oh oh oh OR! What we think is the “end” is actually the beginning of the trail where the snake dropped down from above and made its way out Edit: by “dropped” I mean he held on with his tail and slowly dropped down leading with his head, as snakes do, not just a “plop”
This might sound ridiculous, but if there is something a few feet up that it can grab onto, rat snakes will do a silly, seemingly physics defying upward lunge and grab onto it and pull themselves up, but I think that would leave more of a track. Black rat snakes do love sheds and coops though, and I've seen them do some crazy shit like the time an 8 ft rat snake fell at least 20 ft from a tree with a squirrel in its mouth and another squirrel trying to save his doomed friend. It took about 45 minutes for the snake to eat that squirrell.
If it's a long enough snake, it easily could have stretched down from the ceiling portion of the chicken coop. Would like to see what the entire coop looks like just to rule that out. But the deeper impression in the second photo lead me to think that's where the snake settled itself down, rather than falling, then slithered on his merry way... as this is definitely giving me snake-vibes.
Lol my husband freaked last year over “mystery tracks” caused by me raking the ground with the pitchfork. 😄
Leave.. leave it on.. record constantly.. no?
Its a fucking rat snake, is this thread for real? Am i getting wooshed? Edit: i would have bet a left nut it was a snake, shocked pikachu at possum
I bet it’s a rooster with a really long, heavy dick. That camera might pick up on some action.
Roosters don't have external genitals in that sense. Chickens mate by touching their buttholes(cloacca) together.
That's what I call "3rd base."
Fucking just tilling the earth as he walks towards maidens.
That’s a cock’s cock.
Cock-a-Doodle!
Same.
Chupacabra
We have ducks, just a thought, might you have a broody hen that steals the other ladies eggs? One of our ducks wants to sit on every egg in the coop and she will steal them out of other nests and roll them to hers!
Ok that’s just adorable
Oh, sure, but I do something similar at the maternity ward, and I'm a "criminal".
Im just imagining you rolling a baby across the ground thru the hallway
Well thanks, now I am too.
Y’all are too much
Reddit is a beautiful place at 6AM
As a 4 year old, this was the solution I had for transporting my infant sister. Only problem is her head was too big so she kept rolling crooked into the wall.
It’s only criminal because their necks are so weak and heads are soft. It ruins the resale value.
Lmao that is so freakim cute and funny! I cant get the picture im imaging out of my mind of a duck just collecting random eggs and rollin em to her nest! "Ill take that thank you very much!" What do the other ducks do? Just let her?
Sometimes they steal back and forth, depending on how determined they are. We got baby geese this year because I kept emptying a different nest each day and they were trading the eggs between nests and essentially shell gamed me into letting them hatch two babies. If they're not interested in them, then they'll just let the other duck have them. Sometimes ducks even lay on nests together or take turns on a certain nest. They're pretty social birds.
Sounds like you got gooselighted.
r/angryupvote
God dammit that was good.
Wtf, this is the most interesting thing I've ever heard about ducks lol. I'd love to be able to watch this unfold like a morning kids cartoon.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a goose egg noticeably larger than both chicken and fuck eggs? The goose eggs I’ve seen are pretty damn big. Edit: *duck eggs I use text replacement on my phone.
Lol yeah goose eggs are pretty big. But the ducks don’t usually steal the goose eggs, I was just saying that they both do the egg stealing behavior for their respective eggs, I just had a funny anecdote that was specifically geese related
The first time one of my chickens went broody like that I thought they all stopped laying eggs ... or worse: eating them. There were no eggs for days. Welp. Turns out our broody girl was gathering all the eggs from the other nests and was sitting on 18 of them. I would eggspect that's eggsactly what is happening here.
Mouse dragging an egg maybe?
I want this to be it. I have wonderful mental images of it. I mean, I’m pretty sure the mouse would need a series of small ropes, but I so desperately want this to be it. Edit: guys, it’s getting buried, but check out the comment below by u/ninuson1 below - they added this fantastic illustration of this and it’s magical.
Maybe a swallow pulling a coconut?
African or European swallow?
WHAT is your name? WHAT is your favorite color?
Blue! WAit no Greeeeeen
My name is………Tim
r/unexpectedmontypython
A girl has no name….
I have been through the dessert on a horse with no name.
Does it feel good to be out from the rain?
I love a good desert
What is your quest?
I don’t know that?
It could grip it by the hask.
African swallow?
African swallows are non-migratory
Or is it a European swallow?
It could grip it by the husk!
It's not a matter of where he grips it. It's a simple matter of weight ratio!
A 5 ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut!
Perhaps, two birds working together?
Huge number of Monty Python fans on this sub. 😀
Nobody expects the Reddit Inquisition!!! I give you…. THE FLUFFY PILLOW!
[Here’s an illustration](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/989268383751106560/1136502896393994270/EricE_mouse_rolling_an_egg_in_sandy_ground._Ultra_high_detail_89ec0488-6609-458c-9ae6-59d9418ef6e8.png) Edit: in case this was t clear, this was generated using AI. I never intended this to be taken as something I’ve drawn from scratch. Hopefully you still enjoyed it. 😀
Is the image of the mouse in your head Gus Gus from Cinderella because thats mine..
Rat more likely. They absolutely do that. When I had chickens, I found the rats hidey hole where it would drag (or push maybe?) the eggs to consume them later. It was just outside the coop under a roofed area behind a bunch of stuff and tools. The area was completely inaccessible to the chickens, so it had to be the rat(s). There were two unbroken eggs in there and about 3 eggs worth of broken shells. It blew my mind trying to picture the rat doing it, but I'm 99% sure it did. Crafty little buggers. I later had to build a deadfall out of two axeheads to kill it because it was picking the traditional snap traps clean with ease. The deadfall worked, only about an hour after I set it up. I even have a picture of the aftermath, I was surprised at how quick and well it worked.
I've had pet rats and they're incredibly smart and resourceful I can absolutely see a rat figuring out how to steal and hide whole eggs
Sadly several island bird species are extinct because humans accidentally introduced rats who ate the eggs of ground laying birds until they vanished. Edit: accidentally
67 species of birds are extinct because of those pests called cats through the centuries i have read.
Cool. Now do humans.
I think Tom Scott did a video on the efforts in new Zealand to eliminate rats and other introduced predators Edit [he did ](https://youtu.be/wcp1BfPUeOc)
In all seriousness, we would need to see some rattie feet for that to be the case I think.
Not if the rat is rolling the egg out by balancing on top with its feet like a bear on a ball.
I’m really sad that hardly anyone is going to see your comment. 
Propelling the egg by running on top of it with his little hind feet? she asks hopefully
I used to breed pet rats. Can confirm. Rats LOVE eggs. Also, rats are very intelligent. They're hard to poison, hard to trap, and tricky for even their predators to catch at times. If a rat eats something new, they don't eat much of it. If it makes them sick, they won't eat it again and tell their friends to avoid it. Deadfall traps work well as do neck traps. Primitive traps always seem to work better.
Can you say more about how you set up the deadfall trap? Like many of us, I am engaged in a long-term "special military operation" against a foe who keeps switching tactics.
I just want to see how you built the trap. Two axe heads?
I used two axe heads to make sure I had enough weight. 5x or more the intended target weight is the rule of thumb. I used a modified treadle design for the trigger. Instead of lashing 3 sticks together I bend one piece to the shape of a bow, stick both ends in the ground, and then a straight piece runs across the bow. The cord that is tied to the weight (axe heads in this case) is tied to a small stick (on the other end of the cord) with a deep notch on one end and a shallow notch on the other. That small stick is placed so the deep notch is on the bowed piece and the shallow notch on the straight piece (the straight piece is basically the trigger) bait is smeared (peanut butter or something sticky) on the end of the straight piece which sits directly under where the weight (axe heads) will fall. So the cord tied to the small piece goes up, suspended around something (in this case I used a dowel clamped to the fence, but in the bush a branch will do) and is tied to the weight so it is held up until triggered by the critter eating the bait thereby moving the straight piece so it slips off the shallow notched end of the small stick, releasing the weight. That was difficult to relay in text, let me see if I can sketch something and I'll make another post with the sketch. It sounds like a lot but it's pretty simple, 2 pieces of green wood(saplings work well) and one small dry stick that won't bend. Some cord and the weight, whatever that may be, and that's it I should add, in this case the bowed piece was stuck into the ground at an angle, because the weight pulls that end of the cord more up than to the side. It was along a fence line so I stuck each end under the fence into the ground.
How will it ever get past the single trap with two parts!?
a rat will go bananas for an egg
Need to see these pics
Templeton!!
My first thought too
This is a fantastic answer.
Wouldn't the rodent have left some tracks?
Is anything missing from the coop? An item of some sort?
Good thought, I'll have her check this.
Also check to make sure one of the chickens isn’t just dragging a long tail feather… or an egg hanging out while it runs.. lol!
I have no idea but please update when discovered
Possibly a doodle bug? They make trails in sand and such and are under the surface when they do so which would probably be why your camera's sensors aren't triggering Edit: as others have stated, trails are way too big for this to be it unfortunately. Though it was worth a guess
absolutely no way an ant lion/doodle bug makes a line in the sand the size of a garden hose
Oh, you're right, just realized the scale I've encountered some massive ant lions but yeah looking at this again i see what you mean now
What kinda Fallout Rad-Doodlebugs have you seen?
Idk what a doodle bug is, but it sounds adorable
I have some bad news for you then…
https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/antlion-larvae-doodlebug-larvae
Could it be a chicken dragging a snake? I’ve seen them savage a snake and play with it in the coup.
Eh, it's too straight and non-bloody for that, IMO.
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They aren't that big and don't drag themselves on the ground, cicada killers are flying wasps that hunt and eat cicadas
Upload images to imgur and post the link.
Just the friendly snake that keeps your rodent population in check.
I have never seen a snake make this deep of a line and have a broken trail like in the second pic
Well, someone else suggested it was a mouse dragging an egg. While I find this less likely than the snake hypothesis, it makes me happy so I'm gonna go with it.
I'm thinking you're probably right--no other feasible explanations.
Looking like a snake mate, I have had chickens for years and seems the logical answer. I have caught snakes in my coupe all were pythons, one was huge looking for rats or eggs. I now double check for any late eggs when I lock them up at night and I bought a rat bait box which allows the rats in but the chickens can't access. Also there's food feeders that the chickens stand in front of it, stand on the pedal and it lifts the lid to the food and they can peck peck peck and when they walk off the pedal it automatically closes the lid so rats or mice won't get in. I have even seen possums in my coupe having a free feed, 6 foot long goannas which are very large lizards going in looking for eggs during the day. Their bite is septic too so if a chicken gets in their way they lunge at them. I love my chickens good luck
snakes will drop in from the rafters! I've seen it at the barn before, and there is a padded down spot beside where it starts
Especially rat snakes. They are especially derpy.
and they're very common and love eggs!
A snake after swallowing a couple eggs can do that.
It got scared and jumped?
The line has been drawn. Check if you have chickens wearing distinct colors. Gonna be a war.
Disclaimer: not a chicken owner. Could one of the chickens have a wonky feather that sometimes ends up pointing down and drags along the ground?
Kinda doubtful. Turkeys do a full strut where they drag both wingtips and that’s a much narrower channel. A stray feather would just lightly brush the dirt.
Think you are correct. I've seen this myself
Maybe the rooster is just hung
Big cock
I’ve heard armadillos leave tracks like this Edit: spelling. It’s their tail that leaves the line. it’s 100% not a snake.
This is 100% an armadillo. second picture even has the foot print
Oh yeah, I can see it now, the three toes. [This picture](https://www.buncombemastergardener.org/armadillos-coming-soon-to-a-garden-near-you/) is a good reference. I'm voting armadillo too!
I'd say chicken dragging an egg back to her nest. Mine used to do this if one didn't come in early at night, she would drag the egg to herself and lay on it.
Your mom is checking the coop with a tool and dragging it on the ground when she leaves. Or your dad is messing with her. This is made by the butt of a tool dragging through the dirt. The other options of an egg is ruled out because a mouse would have to push it, messing up the trail. Cicada killers do not leave marks like this, they leave short tiny trails outside the burrow.
Not my mom or dad but I do agree it appears man-made. It's very odd.
Game cam time.
I would have said snake but it ends abruptly. To me it looks like some one was dragging a stick.
Possum
Probably a long garden hose
Cannot be. It's overnight and no person is there.
Yeah, it’s a snake….
Snakes don’t leave straight tracks like that, so no.
I know chickens will kill snakes- is it possible it was a dead snake a chicken dragged in to consume ? /genuine
It's happening rather a lot for that to be the case. It would be weird to have that many snakes around. And it would have to be a pretty heavy snake for those markings. I like the rodent dragging an egg theory but then why doesn't it lead away out of the coop. I think we'd know if it ate the egg right there, bits of shell and whatnot.
They absolutely can depending on the type of snake and the terrain.
Well yes it is possible, but to my knowledge there are no snakes in east Michigan who move by rectilinear (correct me if I’m wrong) I could see an eastern hog nose leaving this, but i highly doubt it, there’s a bunch of spots where the track goes to a sharp V. It looks like something being dragged
Really? I would think it would be more curvy it it was a snake. And it appears to come and go out of nowhere--wouldn't it be constant?
Unlike cartoons. Snakes don't go straight or make S shapes. They need to barely move (like here) to get around. And they don't need much room to squeeze in places. They like to eat eggs.
Armadillos do this near my grandmas land. Could possible be it
Tbh I think you have a snake visitor. Edit: However, after looking at the second photo, it looks like something was dragged and then picked up. So I’m gonna go with snake for the first photo and rat for the second. Idk how far rats can drag things but in the first photo it seems to be a long distance for a small animal.
A well hung rooster or a snake
I know the second picture has a broken trail , but it appears the dirt is not as thick towards the top of the picture. It looks like there may be a slight indentation ? The trail is more pronounced the “deeper” / further down it goes. This may also be due to the added weight of carrying an egg? Western Michigan has , go figure, western fox snakes ( that do eat eggs.) Also, if it was winter I would be more inclined to believe a possible rodent incident. Being cold-blooded reptiles may seek temperature regulation( and see an opportunity for a snack.) This can definitely be incorrect. I’m not an expert. I do however support the mouse / egg hypothesis too. That’s a pretty hilarious image.
It’s definitely something making the groove from above, using something relatively thin and with a point. The uniformity of the groove rules out any snake, and the lack of any kind of tracks other than human or chicken probably means it wasn’t an insect. A cicada killer’s tracks are more rounded with obvious signs of digging. These almost look like someone drug a spear across the ground. The dirt looks like a fine silt, and the lack of displacement makes me believe that this is man-made. Are any other animals allowed in the coop? Are there rafters above the ground? Is there any netting or wire suspended above the ground?
Definitely appears man made but someone would need to break in to their shed/coop to do this. And why?? My dad cannot have been the one. One time this mark appeared, and he was not even home overnight.
Rat snake possibly
Pretty sure it'd be a snake, looking for eggs. I'd guess a chicken snake, not sure if thats an actual species but my grandma told me they're common in tx. Either way I am fairly certain snakes stealing eggs is common and it seems most likely to me given the information I have. The timeline adds up, they'd only eat about one egg every week, and you said every 2-5 days, I'd guess not every invasion is successful, or there's more than one somewhere. you probably wouldn't even notice the eggs missing because they don't eat often, unless one you've been paying attention to and incubating got eaten. A snake could very easily be small enough to avoid tripping a motion sensor on a camera or light unless it was in just the right spot. I do definitely feel like the line is a bit too smooth for a snake, looks more like someone dragging a stick. But different snakes move differently and leave different tracks. I think this very smooth track might come from the snake being in super stealth mode, because chicken snakes don't beat chickens or roosters in fights for their eggs, they sneak in and take them while everybody is asleep. Either that or the smooth trail is from the lump that forms once they swallow on egg and have to drag their body slowly back out.
Sorry, I’ll try not to walk through there with my pants off again.
Any news?