A powder or spray to keep snakes away from my duck house? help please

[cat1994]

Last yr I lost quite a few duck and chicken eggs and even 3 ducklings to some very big black rat snakes. My dad and I got all 3 snakes and dispatched them quickly; each one was over 6 ft long! I hated killing them, I could just tell that they had lived through a lot for a long time, they even had battle scares. Plus the fact that they were just doing what they needed to do to survive made me sad also but not sad enough to stop myself from killing one myself (I was like a she devil when I found the one eating my ducklings

). The reason they could get so big is b/c before I had all my feathered friends (and before they became a problem) we let every non venomous snake we saw live. They weren’t hurting us so why kill them, but now it seems things have changed. The baby snakes we let live yrs ago are huge now and don’t think twice about eating my eggs or baby birds! So dad sat me down and said that he has gone back to the way it was back before I was a kid and now kills every rat snake he sees (he stopped killing them ever since I was a lil kid b/c I would cry when he killed them and even called him a big meanie once) and told me I should do the same if I really want to save my eggs and birds. There must be a better way, I do kill them now but I always feel so horrible after. Please tell there is some powder or spray I can put around my duck and chicken house so the snakes will stay away and I can stop killing them on site. Do any of you know of such a thing? Do you use anything like what I’m taking about? Thanks for any help

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Please tell there is some powder or spray I can put around my duck and chicken house so the snakes will stay away and I can stop killing them on site

There's no such thing.

Other then keeping weeds cut, trash piles picked up, and wood piles away from the area, there is no real way to stop snakes other than a cage made of 1/4" hardware cloth​

 

[AngelzFyre]

If you don't have other pets that can get to them, mothballs repel snakes.
You need to make sure that cats, dogs or other animals won't get to them and also that they won't get into any water runoff that would poison animals or birds that drank it if the mothballs get wet and melt over time.

 

[cat1994]

Oh man there is no way I could keep my animals away from mouth balls plus my duck house is very close to a pond so they would most likely run off into the pond. I just wise their was something that I could sprinkle around the perimeter of my duck house that the snakes don’t like to slither through or smells bad to them or something like that so they would stay away.

 

[dufus]

you're off to a great start, spray them with #8-9 dove shot, from a 12 gauge. i tried to let them go somewhat myself, after eating 2 of my ''surprise'' yard raised peeps, i spray them with .22 shotshells.

 

[cat1994]

Quote:

That would work lol but I’m trying to make them stay away not kill them once they get here.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Sulphur dust will work as snake repellant, & is safe for your flock.

Or, do like the cowboys. Put a larriat around the coop, like they did bed rolls!

Supposedly, a snake won't cross it.

 

[cat1994]

Quote:

Omg thank you so much!!! That is exactly what I need!!

Now it won’t hurt my dogs’ right? Were can I buy that stuff?

 

[ChickInDelight]

I have also heard of sulpher powder to keep them from crawling on that ground.

I have also heard that they hate the smell of Pine Sol, so if that is safe, you might consider using that when you clean the outside of the house. My ducks avoid the smell of Pine Sol when I used it to clean the porch.... but not for very long.

 

[Evernf]

I have hear a snake wont cross a rope layed out on the ground put one around your coop