Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! SNAKE!!!!!!!! IN MY COOP!

[Lalaith]

I'm surprised the chickens didn't eat that snake. I suppose she was too big. I agree with the posters who recommended relocating the snake rather than killing her. I realize it's not always possible but it is a more conscientious approach. Snakes often help control vermin and are really quite pretty when you get a good look at them.

 

[chickenlittle1980]

Thanks for the "support" how was I to know what it was in the dark....... I had my animals to think about and the neighbors kids. my chickens are true backyards chickens (I could spit in hit the neghbors house) So come on all you snake huggers jump on the band wagon and make me feel more like a bigger pile of "blank " for having to take a life! Thanks Yall

 

[suebee]

I agree that some of these comments were extremely harsh. Please people..if you can't play nice, don't play at all.

to chickenlittle1980.

 

[gryeyes]

Chickenlittle, I too do not like snakes at all. I would have done exactly the same thing, even though I also subscribe to the "live and let live" concepts as a general rule. Intellectually, I know most non-poisonous snakes are good rat-catchers, but I also know they eat eggs and can get chicks, too. My first thought is for MY flock's safety. No, actually, my first thought is "AUUUUGGGGHH!!!! SNAKE!!! OMG!" as I run in the other direction. THEN I would think, oh NO, the chickens!!!

I hate spiders, but I only kill the poisonous ones. But I do not hate them as much as I am afraid of snakes.

It's all very well and good to be all nature-huggy and be one with the world, but if there was a snake in my coop, I doubt I would be willing to relocate it. Certainly not by myself; if my rescuer did it, fine - as long as it's a good mile or so away. I don't want it coming back for snacks.

 

[Intheswamp]

I understand that different people have different reactions to snakes. Personally, if it isn't a pit viper I will relocate them...the ones with the buzzers on their tails (*that I can't hear...I'm deaf to that particular frequency!*) I tend to dispatch, though they, too, eat plenty of rodents. In the last two years I've gotten two rat snakes off my martin gourdrack...they got past a predator guard and then shimmied up a galvanized pole. Thankfully I got them before they invaded the gourds. Be aware that when you catch one they will STINK BIG TIME!!!

I know it comes down to "the snake or my chickens", but when you kill one of these snakes remember that in it's lifetime (they've been found to live as long as 15 years) it probably eats a couple of hundred pounds or more of rodents.

A rat snake around the outside of a hen house is

whereas a snake in the hen house, to me, means the coop needs to be more secure.

This one was the little one...

 

[TXmom]

People are not supposed to be this harsh in the Predators and Pests section...it's against the rules.

I had a 6 foot rat snake (I think that's what it was) in my nest boxes eating my eggs...lots of eggs...and my broody was sitting a few feet away with 7 eggs almost due to hatch. I called a neighbor over to help because my husband was at work. He came over, and I told him I don't care what you do with it as long as it leaves my animals and family alone...so he killed it. He said it would come back if he tried to relocate it, since it knows where the "easy" meals are. I have to protect MY chickens, MY eggs, and MY baby chicks. And as far as mice and rats, there are plenty of dogs and cats around here that take care of that problem. I occasionally find dead rats in the yard that the cats "played" with but apparently didn't want to eat.

 

[LesGan]

Hey ChickenLittle1980: Please don't beat yourself up or take on anyone else's imposed guilt about how you handled your first time snake situation. We are all human and can look back and perhaps wish we had handled a situation differently. The only crime is if we do not learn from our experiences and do not modify our decisions to be more true to our selves. You have received some suggestions and can go from here. I don't particularly enjoy dealing with snakes, but I can do it now in a way where I am being true to my self and comfortable with my decisions.

 

[Mervin]

ChickenLittle1980

LesGan is right, don't beat yourself up. People here are sometimes quick to judge. You did what you felt was right at the time. When I was 17, I saw a very large black rat snake crawling out of a barn at the farm I worked at. Naturally I dispatched and though I had done a good thing until I got chewed out by the farmer. So, you're not the first to have decided on that course of action. Now, I do let them pass if at all possible and have been trying to teach my children this as well. Incidentally, I have also accidentally dispatched a Northern Watersnake b/c I initially thought it was a Copperhead.

 

[markb816]

What is snake away powder and where could I get some? Where should I put it and when? Will rain/water wash it away? Will it hurt the chickens or will they try to eat it?

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
All spiders are venomous (carry venom) -most are not dangerous (to people/chickens/cat/dogs/ect).

The rat snake was a threat to eggs, their bites (conciser what they eat) often go untreated -on people and animals - ("it was just a rat snake, it'll be ok...") and go gangrenous or lead to fatal infections.