snakes in the chicken coop or chicken yard

[marilyn1954]

We have a lot of copperheads on our property anything keep them away????

 

[LoneStarHen]

We have LOTS of snakes. Water snakes, bull snakes, copperheads, rattlers, water moccasin, rat snakes, king snakes, coral snakes.... You name it, we pretty much have it.

I keep all the eggs picked up and out of the yard. The bull snakes seem to like those, and we've got some big ones. I think with all of the scratching around that my flock does while they are free ranging keeps most of the snakes away. I will see them on the perimeter of the yard and in trees or on fences or in my woodpile. But I rarely see them anywhere that there is a lot of activity and poultry scratching. Most of them just want to get away from you. The moccasins are the exception, and they will downright chase you down and try to bite you...

That is about all I've found that keeps them away. You can run hardware cloth "snake fencing" around the bottom of your enclosures. That will keep smaller ones out. Bigger ones that can climb higher that the cloth could potentially get over it.

With all of the snakes we have, I seem to have more of a problem with black widows and "stinging" caterpillars...

 

[TJordan]

This 5.5 almost 6 foot beauty was sitting on my chicken gate this morning!!!

Wasn't even scared... The snake that is, I didn't see it until I put my hand on it!!! Ideas to denture these critters for later?...

 

[farm-a-zootical]

We walked upon a 4 ft black rat snake and a 5 ft black rat snake trying to find a way into our run. It has hardware cloth all the way up, however. Also, for the copperheads, if you loosely roll bird netting around the perimeter, they will get tangled up and can't free themselves. We've gotten two that way. Three tiny grandkids running around have us covering a lot of bases.

 

[chicbaby]

i like snakes and they do a great job eating gophers and other pests like mice. i would just have someone move the non poisonous ones and call someone to move the poisonous ones. i actually pick up some of the rattlers who are not aggressive with a stick put them in a box and take them to an empty field away from humans. the more activity you have around the yard or if you have dogs or other animals, the snakes will just stay away and find somewhere else to go. the bigger gopher snakes actually eat rattlers, so they are good to have around. we haven't had any snakes near our chickens.

 

[TJordan]

i like snakes and they do a great job eating gophers and other pests like mice. i would just have someone move the non poisonous ones and call someone to move the poisonous ones. i actually pick up some of the rattlers who are not aggressive with a stick put them in a box and take them to an empty field away from humans. the more activity you have around the yard or if you have dogs or other animals, the snakes will just stay away and find somewhere else to go. the bigger gopher snakes actually eat rattlers, so they are good to have around. we haven't had any snakes near our chickens.

I grew up with snakes that's why I felt safe removing it myself... He, or she, is happily elsewhere....

 

[farm-a-zootical]

yep, believe in an ounce of prevention here. Snakes everywhere. That's why we have every square inch in hardware cloth and the two snakes were frustrated trying to get in to the little ones Could have been a heartbreaker.

 

[TJordan]

yep, believe in an ounce of prevention here.  Snakes everywhere.  That's why we have every square inch in hardware cloth and the two snakes were frustrated trying to get in to the little ones  Could have been a heartbreaker.

Yep... It will cost a little cash and the building of the new coop might be delayed until next weekend while we snake proof the area but we have got to do something.... I'm going to get some of that (I think it's lye) powder to lay down and I can use it to clean the coop as well... e

Lots of work... Running around like crazy lol

 

[farm-a-zootical]

Yes, on the hardware cloth. Also, as soon as we had our run completed with overlay of hardware cloth, we trapped seven raccoons in two months between the coop and the garden. They were looking for a free meal in both places. We did 'tight as a drum' to start with, and it did take us more time, but worth it in just weeks. We ordered a jumbo roll from Amazon.

 

[TJordan]

Yes, on the hardware cloth.  Also, as soon as we had our run completed with overlay of hardware cloth, we trapped seven raccoons in two months between the coop and the garden.  They were looking for a free meal in both places.  We did 'tight as a drum' to start with, and it did take us more time, but worth it in just weeks.  We ordered a jumbo roll from Amazon.

Yeah... It cost a pretty penny.... $8-20 just for a small roll 10' long...