Black snake hanging around chicken coop.

[GuineaFowling]

The best solution is to catch and relocate the snake. Though if there is one snake there are more bound to be nearby. Make sure the snake doesnt harm your broody hen or her chicks. Also guineas are known for killing and eating small snakes and lizards but I am assuming your snake is large.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

The best solution is to catch and relocate the snake. Though if there is one snake there are more bound to be nearby. Make sure the snake doesnt harm your broody hen or her chicks. Also guineas are known for killing and eating small snakes and lizards but I am assuming your snake is large.

He is about as big around as a quarter. Not huge but big enough to worry about.
so far he had not come back, the moved him about two days ago. We have had a cool
spell here the few days, that might have something to do with it.

 

[Steadfast]

I found a Snake hanging out in my outdoor brewder this morning!

He had eaten on of my 3 week old chicks!

The chick was a 3 week old phesant silkie bantam that we had hatched.



The snake was a black snake who was waiting around long enough to digest at bit more,
so he could eat another one of my chicks!

I dragged him by the neck out of the rafters with my Blacksmith Tongs
and whacked off his head with a small wood hatchet...

Bye bye Mr. Snake!

So, to keep me from doing it again.... which I will... Happily!

Do you guys have any information to ward off the next snake,
before he makes the mistake of comiting the captal offense of attacking my pretty birds....

 

[Belott]

I found a Snake hanging out in my outdoor brewder this morning! He had eaten on of my 3 week old chicks! The chick was a 3 week old phesant silkie bantam that we had hatched. The snake was a black snake who was waiting around long enough to digest at bit more, so he could eat another one of my chicks! I dragged him by the neck out of the rafters with my Blacksmith Tongs and whacked off his head with a small wood hatchet... [COLOR=FF0000]Bye bye Mr. Snake![/COLOR] So, to keep me from doing it again.... which I will... Happily! Do you guys have any information to ward off the next snake, before he makes the mistake of comiting the captal offense of attacking my pretty birds....

Your outdoor brooder should be surrounded by 1/2inch hardware cloth!!! Anything less is just a predator buffet David

 

[6of6chicks]

Sorry, but there have been several suggestions to relocate the snake. Please do NOT do this. Not only are you just making this someone else's problem, in many states snakes are protected to some extent under Fish & Wildlife laws. Depending on local or state ordinances, it may in fact be illegal to relocate the snake. Not only that, given that the OP doesn't know the specific type of snake, it could be dangerous. Unlikely, sure, but still possible. Why risk it?

Call animal control or a wildlife specialist/exterminator. They will properly and legally relocate the snake for you.

 

[DesertLab]

We just relocated two black snakes 1/4 of a mile away .. later we learned they were rat snakes. The third snake we found we had to kill. The three snakes were living in a stack of hay. One of the smaller snakes ate three guinea eggs (we could see the three lumps) and we had a keet vanish from our kennel. Two of the snakes were about 3 feet long.. the one we killed was a tad over 5 feet.

All the best.

 

[Steadfast]

Again....
This is what I suggest you do with them...

 

[subhanalah]

Can you track down some kingsnake poop to place around your coop/barn/property?

 

[DesertLab]

That looks like a rat snake (my neighbor calls them chicken snakes). We lost 3 guines hen eggs and one keet to three of them living in our stack of hay. We relocated two of them.. the third was killed. Per our neighbor who has a background with snakes ... if you relocate a rat snake you want to go at least 1/4 of a mile away. This way.. if you see another snake, you know it is not the same one coming back. We relocated our snakes to a wooded area with no houses around. The rat snakes will eat eggs and they will eat your baby birds. The bigger rat snakes can eat your chickens. The rat snake we killed was a tad over 5 feet long... the smaller ones were 3 feet long. Rat snakes are not poisonous.. but they can bite. We used a looong handled rake and a front end loader to relocate the rat snakes residing here. Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_snake
The best way to keep rat snakes away is to remove places for them to hide like stacks of hay or boards laying on the ground. Next keep mice and small rodents away. We suspended our guinea feeders off the ground so we don't feed any mice. Our guinea kennel is along the tree line going into the woods so they have easy access. Finally, the snakes do not care to be exposed so keeping a clear area around the outside of the structure you keep your birds in can help. Some people have said sulfer will keep them away as they don't want to crawl through it.. others have said moth balls will work. Studies have shown neither does a thing to keep the snakes away .. rather it only makes the owners feel better (and sometimes a happy owner is not a bad thing =). If you google "snake traps" you can see some home made traps and commercial traps that may work.

Rat snakes are very strong and can climb to a degree. What they do is the get their upper body vertical and hunt around for a place to "hook" it onto. Then they use their upper body to pull up their lower body. Our neighbor says a solid smooth 4 foot surface with nothing to grip (no ledge) onto is one of the best ways to keep the critters out of the kennel. They can get really flat so any gaps or spaces need to be filled in. We use stuff from Home Depot.. it is called "The Good Stuff" and comes in a can. It is a spray in foam and works great.

all the best.

 

[DesertLab]

I am not willing to kill anything unless it is necessary. They are just doing what they were designed to do and they do have a purpose in the ecosystem. When we relocated our stacked hay... we didn't find one mouse in the pile. And since we have a large hay barn.. that is really amazing. If they would not eat my guinea hen eggs and birds.. I would have let them stay. We kill things only when necessary ... not convenient.

All the best.