1 snake down old fishing hook trick worked

[tjreno2]

after loosing a nest full of butter scotch call duck eggs i purchased from funky feathers to a chicken snake i declared war. i put some store bought eggs under her. 2 days later they were gone. put some more along with a golf ball. 2 days later they were gone and it not only ate the eggs but killed the cochin that was setting on the eggs and tred to swallow her but couldnt get past the shoulders. i decided to try the old fishing hook in the egg trick. he was back again last night(2 days later) and i had him on the hook this morning. so this trick really does work. seems like these snakes have a pattern. every 2 days hes been coming back. im just wondering if the snake had a mate. in the past when ive killed one it was with another snake. im wondering if the other was the one that ate the golf ball. i figure if a snake can eat it that they probably can spit it back up. im not to sure about the old golf ball trick so im going to fix another egg up just in case.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Sounds like he was getting a lot of help. How big was the snake you caught?

 

[Shireshome]

Great job on your catch! I honestly have never used the golf ball trick because when I was a child hanging out in my uncles barn I watched a snake eat and regurgitate a golf ball. Another trick my uncle would use was to take store bought eggs and inject them with antifreeze, not that I am recommending this method, but it did work. Some people swear by golf balls, and I think it works sometimes, but I think generally speaking an egg breaks inside the snake pretty quickly and they know that if it doesn't break after a certain point then they give it up again. I personally prefer to use a loose bundle of netting at the bottom of the run and electric wire two inches away from the fence and six inches up, 15,000 volts kills 'um every time.

ETA: After thinking for a few minutes I remembered that my uncle ALWAYS dyed the antifreeze eggs bright green and NEVER used them in nests. They also did not have free range birds. He put them in various places around the barn. Also I will mention that the reason for such drastic measures was that the snakes he was killing were western diamond and mojave green rattlers, these highly toxic snakes absolutely infested their property (in the summer time it was very common to step out onto the front porch and find one sitting on the top step!) they lost many dogs to these snakes and this action was taken after my mother, who was in her early 20s at the time, was bitten by a baby diamond back rattler on her hand while pulling weeds in the garden.

 

[tjreno2]

the snake was about 5 foot.

 

[arcountrychick]

My granny always sweared by the fishing hook trick. Personally, I've had the luck (or perhaps bad luck) of finding the culprits in action. Killed 5 in the past month. We also keep plastic Easter eggs in the coop--supposedly the snake will eat the plastic egg and it will kill it, if they don't regurgitate. I do know that the plastic eggs will slow them down enough that they won't go too far, making them easy targets. Hope that doesn't sound terribly evil

 

[Arty]

So how exactly to you connect the egg and the fish hook?

 

[tjreno2]

drill a small hole in the end of the egg. i used a crappie hook and tied about 6 foot of fishing line to the hook. feed the hook inside the hole you drilled all the way. i took some 5 min apoxy and filled in the hole. tie the string off to something. these snakes im dealing with only seem to eat the eggs that are being sat on. there can be a nest right next to that one with 5-6 eggs in it and they will not mess with those. you hear people talk about the scent on the eggs from the chickens is what draws them. i seem to think its more the heat the eggs are giving off from being sat on.

 

[Mommakity]

I have a friend that used the hook and egg trick! She posted pics of snakes she caught!
I’m hoping I will have a snake proof coop! I know it’s not easy, but I’m going to try!
I haven’t had chickens since about 2000! Mine are 12 weeks and 7 weeks! My problem right now is integrating the youngsters into the flock! I’ve kept them next to the others with only wire between... for a week! I tried putting the babies in with the older guys today and one of the older roosters almost killed one of my production red babies!
By the time I solve this problem I’ll be building nest boxes! Then it will be soon I’ll be fighting snakes!
I have rabbits too so I’m using rabbit wire on my chicken coop!