Beware of Rat Snakes **GRAPHIC IMAGES**

[JadeFarms]

My main problem around here is when a Tegu tries to eat a chicken or a quail. I don’t kill them, I just can’t. But I do trap the ones that are eating my animals and find a place for them. And I have never had a problem with snakes they just don’t try to eat anything but the mice. One time my neighbor put out something that killed a lot of snakes. There were mice everywhere and it was really bad. Fortunately they are back now. That was a few years ago. We told him to stop using it since it was killing off the snakes and fortunately he did and there’s a lot around here now.

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

It's good to know this. I don't plan to go hunt and kill any and all snakes in my radius, but if our poultry are dying in this way and I find the culprit in their coop...well... Fair game.

That’s my philosophy as well for snakes or any other predator. We have cattle and coyotes and black buzzards are a constant threat to young calves. The buzzards are illegal to kill so we try to scare them off and have to watch the cattle close to protect them. There are always coyotes around but if they aren’t showing signs of problems we leave them be. If coyotes become a problem then we try to stop the problem.

 

[centrarchid]

I have been removing only the larger Black Rat Snakes. By larger, greater than 5 feet long. Smaller Black Rat Snakes less of a threat to the chickens and still provide some rodent control.

 

[ColtHandorf]

My main problem around here is when a Tegu tries to eat a chicken or a quail. I don’t kill them, I just can’t. But I do trap the ones that are eating my animals and find a place for them.

Tegus are not native to Florida and are considered invasive. Florida Parks and Wildlife destroys any Tegus that are captured in an effort to control them. They negatively impact populations of native and endangered wildlife. If you're trapping Tegus you need to be contacting the proper authorities to have them destroyed.

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/argentine-black-and-white-tegu/

https://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu/projects/Argentineblackandwhitetegus/

I'm posting this as a warning about large rat snakes, which are commonly regarded as helpful to keep around for pest control. We recently had seen several in our coops--one of them over 5 feet long--and caught/released them thinking they were harmless (despite the egg casualty) and ultimately useful for rodent control. We thought wrong.

Last year I relocated the first three rat snakes (in as many weeks) that I caught in the hen house eating eggs. After that I gave up. I killed over 18 rat snakes last year, sometimes more than one in a single day/night. I went months without getting any eggs ( I had a very small flock). When I brought in some new pullets about 3.5 months of age, the snakes killed all but one in a few days in the same manner the poult in the OP died. This year I've only killed three.

That being said, I keep the grass mowed very short throughout the entire yard. I minimize plantings/flower beds, standing water, etc, to minimize the attractiveness of the environment and dissuade them from hanging out.

 

[JadeFarms]

That is highly irresponsible. Tegus are not native to Florida and are considered invasive. Florida Parks and Wildlife destroys any Tegus that are captured in an effort to control them. They negatively impact populations of native and endangered wildlife. If you're trapping Tegus you need to be contacting the proper authorities to have them destroyed.

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/argentine-black-and-white-tegu/

https://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu/projects/Argentineblackandwhitetegus/



Last year I relocated the first three rat snakes (in as many weeks) that I caught in the hen house eating eggs. After that I gave up. I killed over 18 rat snakes last year, sometimes more than one in a single day/night. I went months without getting any eggs ( I had a very small flock). When I brought in some new pullets about 3.5 months of age, the snakes killed all but one in a few days in the same manner the poult in the OP died. This year I've only killed three.

That being said, I keep the grass mowed very short throughout the entire yard. I minimize plantings/flower beds, standing water, etc, to minimize the attractiveness of the environment and dissuade them from hanging out.

We have called people out to come get them all. They literally said what I was doing was fine. It’s not irresponsible, I have permission to do what I’m doing with the people who work to catch them.

 

[JadeFarms]

My neighbor who knows us very well called them and he told them about the tegus and what we were doing and they said it’s fine. They don’t want them to be in the wild.

 

[Al Gerhart]

People assume that having chickens means having rodents and thus need snakes around to control the rodents. I can understand a farmer with a corn crib that has holes in it needing snakes but anytime you create an unnatural environment by leaving pounds of chicken feed just sitting out unprotected you are asking to have rats and mice. In the natural world a rodent is going to have a fairly large territory and it is going to have to defend it against other rodents. The size of the territory depends upon the amount of food the territory can provide year round. You take a city block and it can support 100 rats in a colony, waste food in trash cans and dumpsters mostly. But a city block size of rural land won't be able to support a couple of rats if that.

If you do not have a secure feeder your coop will support a rat colony and you probably won't notice the amount of feed being eaten as it slowly ramps up as the colony grows. The single best thing to do is to weigh the feed you are feeding each day, a quarter pound per laying hen or growing broiler, ignore the roosters as they eat little. If you are feeding more than that you are feeding more than chickens.

Secure the feed and the rodents will leave. Predators will leave shortly after that as they get hungry. Even better secure the feed before you have a rodent problem or a predator problem or mites and lice that you cannot get rid of.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

People assume that having chickens means having rodents and thus need snakes around to control the rodents. I can understand a farmer with a corn crib that has holes in it needing snakes but anytime you create an unnatural environment by leaving pounds of chicken feed just sitting out unprotected you are asking to have rats and mice. In the natural world a rodent is going to have a fairly large territory and it is going to have to defend it against other rodents. The size of the territory depends upon the amount of food the territory can provide year round. You take a city block and it can support 100 rats in a colony, waste food in trash cans and dumpsters mostly. But a city block size of rural land won't be able to support a couple of rats if that.

If you do not have a secure feeder your coop will support a rat colony and you probably won't notice the amount of feed being eaten as it slowly ramps up as the colony grows. The single best thing to do is to weigh the feed you are feeding each day, a quarter pound per laying hen or growing broiler, ignore the roosters as they eat little. If you are feeding more than that you are feeding more than chickens.

Secure the feed and the rodents will leave. Predators will leave shortly after that as they get hungry. Even better secure the feed before you have a rodent problem or a predator problem or mites and lice that you cannot get rid of.

We store the feed indoors overnight so there's never food left out in the run. Any scraps are removed too each night. That said, I think our visitor came for the eggs... I don't blame him, there is nothing like farm fresh eggs!

Sadly the neighbors poultry are young and not laying yet, so perhaps their resident snake became impatient... In any case--you are right, secure feed, keep rodent populations down and hopefully prevent snakes. Otherwise, it's good to know the really big ones--however innocuous the breed--will not hesitate to grab a bird. Didn't know that and I'm glad I do now!

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Tegus are not native to Florida and are considered invasive. Florida Parks and Wildlife destroys any Tegus that are captured in an effort to control them. They negatively impact populations of native and endangered wildlife. If you're trapping Tegus you need to be contacting the proper authorities to have them destroyed.

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/argentine-black-and-white-tegu/

https://crocdoc.ifas.ufl.edu/projects/Argentineblackandwhitetegus/



Last year I relocated the first three rat snakes (in as many weeks) that I caught in the hen house eating eggs. After that I gave up. I killed over 18 rat snakes last year, sometimes more than one in a single day/night. I went months without getting any eggs ( I had a very small flock). When I brought in some new pullets about 3.5 months of age, the snakes killed all but one in a few days in the same manner the poult in the OP died. This year I've only killed three.

That being said, I keep the grass mowed very short throughout the entire yard. I minimize plantings/flower beds, standing water, etc, to minimize the attractiveness of the environment and dissuade them from hanging out.

Yeah it seems the neighbors run butts right up to a big wood pile--which is where we saw the snake leave (we almost caught the guy!). I'm sorry about your losses--its crazy how infrequently rat snakes are brought up as potential predators. After posting about this I'm learning so many people have had their flocks annihilated in the same way before figuring it out. Good to be aware of!

 

[Seed223]

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....