I am new here, not to having chickens but new to the site, so HI! About 45 minutes ago I had quite a scare when i walked outside to see my dear goose who is sitting on duck eggs having a fit. She was off the nest and making the awfulest noise in the world!! I went and looked and saw the biggest black snake I have ever seen. And trust me I have seen some big rattlesnakes and copperheads! We own about 35 acres in the middle of the country in the mountains of SC. Okay here's the rest of the story. The snake was eating the duck eggs and was actually big enough to eat the ducks and give the goose a good hurtin' so I called and got someone to come kill the snake after I broke the garden hoe trying and ended up making the snake VERY angry to the point it was raising up at me. Soooo......my question is, is there anything I can do to keep the snakes away a little better? Like I said we are SURROUNDED by woods and have a pretty good population of Timber rattlers and copperheads so I know that the black snake would have helped keep them away though that snake was upward of over 6 feet long and as big around as my 6'3 husbands arm! HUGE SNAKE!!! My friend came and shot it because I do have an autistic son who is also severely mentally impaired as well as he has a terminal neuromuscualr disease so any snake bite, poision or not can be deadly to him. Thanks in advance for any advice. Oh also, we do have Guienas (sp?), One goose, 3 female ducks, one male duck, 2 full grown hens, one mixed rooster. Now for the other chicken pen we have 2 RIR pullets, 1 little brown pullet that I cannot remember the breed of, and 2 barred rock pullets. Also I have 5 other mixed pullets and a 5 year old rescued Buff Orpington Rooster who was beat by his previous owner so badly they tore his comb loose, tore most of his feathers out and tore both spurs out and he could not even lift his head for days. We brought him home and he is SOOOOOO sweet!!! He also has a new mate, my Buff Orpington Hen who has been SOOOOO lonely as well as my 10 pullets when they get grown! He is already in the cage with them and thinks they are his babies!!! lol
