Rat Snakes

[Dcoop]

Just went to one of my two small coops for young chicks, five in each, one missing two birds, opened roosting box found big rat snake and a dead bird almost 7 weeks old, snake's belly showed he's already eaten one bird already! Now it's officially open season on ALL snakes for me!

 

[Saveria]

1/2" hardware cloth on everything should stop them from getting in.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Just went to one of my two small coops for young chicks, five in each, one missing two birds, opened roosting box found big rat snake and a dead bird almost 7 weeks old, snake's belly showed he's already eaten one bird already! Now it's officially open season on ALL snakes for me!

Sorry for your loss.

Rats eat chicks too.. Ruin homes, undermine foundations, short out wires, spread parasites and disease, etc..

Half inch hardware cloth (properly installed) will exclude most predators.. a highly valued resource, well worth the investment.. when compared to alternatives.

Hope the rest of your babes are safe and continue to thrive!

 

[Brooks_]

Rat snakes are beneficial. Using 1/2" hardware cloth as a prevention as mentioned above is much easier than going after the snakes.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hardware cloth and a good skirt help. Last year I had to rework my brooder to make it absolutely snake proof after losing too many chicks.

But they will get in the pop door.

I don't kill them, myself. I just carry them down to the very furthest corner of my property. If I killed them I'd have a massive rodent problem so I just focus on exclusion.

Additionally, though I can't say if it's true or not, the old-timers all say that if you've got rat snakes they'll keep the copperheads away.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Hardware cloth and a good skirt help. Last year I had to rework my brooder to make it absolutely snake proof after losing too many chicks.

But they will get in the pop door.

I don't kill them, myself. I just carry them down to the very furthest corner of my property. If I killed them I'd have a massive rodent problem so I just focus on exclusion.

Additionally, though I can't say if it's true or not, the old-timers all say that if you've got rat snakes they'll keep the copperheads away.

I pulled a four foot rat snake out of my largest bantam coop a couple of weeks ago and carried it to the back end of my 3.5 acre property for release. Over the 55 years that I have had chickens, this is an action I have taken many times with them. As for them keeping copperheads away, this has been proven true in my experiences.

 

[3KillerBs]

I pulled a four foot rat snake out of my largest bantam coop a couple of weeks ago and carried it to the back end of my 3.5 acre property for release. Over the 55 years that I have had chickens, this is an action I have taken many times with them. As for them keeping copperheads away, this has been proven true in my experiences.

This is probably the biggest I've had:

I'd rather live with the snakes than the vermin, but it's a PAIN to deal with and I hate losing chicks.

 

[Captain13]

Well, attached is a picture of my morning surprise. It wasn’t in the coop but I fired he was hunting moles. The problem with catching and moving a rat snake is that strong pest defense they can release. Ughhhh. Anyway, I put him in a bucket and moved him to the backside of the property where he promptly went up a big pine tree.

I can’t attach a photo of the 4 foot Cane Break Rattlesnake my neighbor killed two nights ago next to his house. He thought it was a limb and was about to pick it up. The snake coiled and he had to kill it. I only mention this because this happened at 10:30 at night and the whole thing could have turned out really bad. If you are checking your coop or nesting boxes, be very careful. My neighbor didn’t cut the rattler open but the snake was near the coop and had just eaten something based on the lump behind it’s head. Rat snakes are one thing but rattlesnakes are a whole new ball game.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Through the years I have been very fortunate not to have lost any chicks to them but eggs are a whole other story. That is about a six foot one in your photo, correct? In my experiences, when I have seen them that long, their mates are usually in the same vicinity.

 

[3KillerBs]

Through the years I have been very fortunate not to have lost any chicks to them but eggs are a whole other story. That is about a six foot one in your photo, correct? In my experiences, when I have seen them that long, their mates are usually in the same vicinity.

If you mean my photo above, I've had this one, who probably was about 6 feet, and two others a bit smaller -- or maybe the same one twice.

Last year I had at least 4 that were within shouting distance of 5 feet one way or the other and lost 6 chicks plus a nest of partially-incubated eggs along with some other random eggs.