Beware of Rat Snakes **GRAPHIC IMAGES**

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

I am really new to owning chickens. We live inside the city and have seen a few snakes around our yard - mostly garter snakes I’m assuming. But we live in KY where there are lots of rat snakes. Do you think I should be concerned about this? We have 4.5 week old pullets/cockerels inside of a smaller outdoor coop during the day and the coop has a few openings where a small snake could get in. Wondering now if we need to reconsider where we put them during the day....

I would just recommend patching up those potential entry points, perhaps with 1/4" hardware cloth? Smaller ones are less likely to be a problem but I still wouldn't risk it.

Once we figured out how snakes were getting into our coop, we sealed it up and haven't seen one since. Way better to prevent it than a) find your pullets gone in such a manner, and/or b) have to figure out what to do with a snake in the coop(I hate having to kill anything).

Best wishes to you and your new flock!

 

[Seed223]

I would just recommend patching up those potential entry points, perhaps with 1/4" hardware cloth? Smaller ones are less likely to be a problem but I still wouldn't risk it.

Once we figured out how snakes were getting into our coop, we sealed it up and haven't seen one since. Way better to prevent it than a) find your pullets gone in such a manner, and/or b) have to figure out what to do with a snake in the coop(I hate having to kill anything).

Best wishes to you and your new flock!

Thank you! We will check the openings tomorrow and patch those up. I’m so glad I saw this post. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

I am really new to owning chickens. We live inside the city and have seen a few snakes around our yard - mostly garter snakes I’m assuming. But we live in KY where there are lots of rat snakes. Do you think I should be concerned about this? We have 4.5 week old pullets/cockerels inside of a smaller outdoor coop during the day and the coop has a few openings where a small snake could get in. Wondering now if we need to reconsider where we put them during the day....

We are in Ky, and my recommendation would be to take precautions just in case there happen to be larger snakes in that area. A few years back I was helping do some yard work in a residential area on the edge of the city and saw a good size snake skin in a storage shed. The owner said that there had been a large black snake there.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Thank you! We will check the openings tomorrow and patch those up. I’m so glad I saw this post. Thank you for sharing!

Of course! This is our first flock, too, and believe me we have learned a lot, often the hard way! Happy to pass on those lessons to others. Also, the BYC community has been a godsend!

 

[PatriciafromCO]

Am sorry without our rat snakes we would have rattlers in their place. And it could be we never had trouble with them attacking the chickens is because of the dogs keep them in check. I have had them get into the eggs and have removed those out and across the road to open pasture. Biggest one I've seen was last year she was huge maybe close to 4ft making her rounds on property. But she not like the dogs barking at her. Can your birds get off the ground at night. Mine sleep on top of my dog kennels or in the barn rafters. And the babies are raised in the tall live stock tanks.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

We have lots of large whiteoak snakes around here (variant of grey rat snakes). Biggest around her push 6 feet easily. I lost a half grown guinea to one last year, caught two in the act on chicken pullets, and recently lost a chick and some eggs to one. If they’re under 5 feet I kill them. If over I try to relocate them. Reason I try not to kill the big ones is they’re abnormally large. Possibly record sized. Hate to kill them for that reason. Little ones are a dime a dozen and the world has no shortage of them. This past week I killed one that I measured to be nearly 4.5 feet, and it was ridiculously small compared to the big ones. So alive or dead I want to measure the next big one that crosses my path.

All other non venomous snakes get a pass from me unless and until they show themselves to be chicken killers. Thus far only the whiteoak snakes have given me trouble.

But yes OP, people do tend to downplay the threat of snakes on poultry in the name of snake conservation. The more life experience I gain, the more I learn that the real life threats of many kinds of animals are downplayed by popular culture and media.

 

[Seed223]

We are in Ky, and my recommendation would be to take precautions just in case there happen to be larger snakes in that area. A few years back I was helping do some yard work in a residential area on the edge of the city and saw a good size snake skin in a storage shed. The owner said that there had been a large black snake there.

Oh wow! That’s terrifying! We are in Lexington in the middle of the city. I know our neighbor found a big snake in their kitchen (could you imagine?!) a few years back but I haven’t heard of many snakes since then. I will definitely take some extra precautions!! Thank you

 

[Seed223]

Of course! This is our first flock, too, and believe me we have learned a lot, often the hard way! Happy to pass on those lessons to others. Also, the BYC community has been a godsend!

This community is really awesome!! I feel like I’m kind of addicted to it already

 

[Seed223]

Am sorry without our rat snakes we would have rattlers in their place. And it could be we never had trouble with them attacking the chickens is because of the dogs keep them in check. I have had them get into the eggs and have removed those out and across the road to open pasture. Biggest one I've seen was last year she was huge maybe close to 4ft making her rounds on property. But she not like the dogs barking at her. Can your birds get off the ground at night. Mine sleep on top of my dog kennels or in the barn rafters. And the babies are raised in the tall live stock tanks.

I feel like I would totally freak if I found a 4 ft snake in our backyard! We have dogs too, I wonder if they help keep the snakes away.... our birds sleep on their roosts locked up in a coop but now I’m going to double check that there aren’t any small openings for snakes!!

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

We have lots of large whiteoak snakes around here (variant of grey rat snakes). Biggest around her push 6 feet easily. I lost a half grown guinea to one last year, caught two in the act on chicken pullets, and recently lost a chick and some eggs to one. If they’re under 5 feet I kill them. If over I try to relocate them. Reason I try not to kill the big ones is they’re abnormally large. Possibly record sized. Hate to kill them for that reason. Little ones are a dime a dozen and the world has no shortage of them. This past week I killed one that I measured to be nearly 4.5 feet, and it was ridiculously small compared to the big ones. So alive or dead I want to measure the next big one that crosses my path.

All other non venomous snakes get a pass from me unless and until they show themselves to be chicken killers. Thus far only the whiteoak snakes have given me trouble.

But yes OP, people do tend to downplay the threat of snakes on poultry in the name of snake conservation. The more life experience I gain, the more I learn that the real life threats of many kinds of animals are downplayed by popular culture and media.

I completely agree, we are a cattle farm and used to have sheep and goats but coyotes forced me to stop trying to raise them. We tried many deterrents and nothing was fool proof against them. With cattle we have to constantly watch them when there are young calves because of coyotes and black buzzards. The buzzards are a protected species that the experts say only eat carrion but farmers throughout the southeastern US have found out the real truth that they can just as readily be predatory towards young calves. We lost one calf to them this year and had to intervene to save 2 more from them. I also believe that the black buzzards could also be a potential threat to chickens.
Snakes bring about a very strong reaction and are viewed very negatively by many and I suspect there is good reason for that. While I will agree that small ones are not a threat, I also believe that species that have fairly large mature sizes really should be controlled because of the real threat to eggs and poultry.