Can a snake

[theuglychick]

On the plus side, I have zero rats!

 

[Wise Woman]

theuglychick, AAAAACCCCKKKKK!!!!!!! Oh my stars. Oh my stars. Oh my stars. I would have died on the spot. I knew they could climb but I wasn't sure how well. That is why I thought I better ask. That does it. Hardware cloth top to bottom covered by fencing top to bottom. Also hardware cloth buried all around the perimeter. Oh the horror of finding that in my coop or run. My worst fear is finding one in the nest box. AAACCCCKKK!!!!!

 

[Wise Woman]

On the plus side, I have zero rats!

I guess not! But still. AAACCCKKK!!!!

 

[theuglychick]

This was a rat snake, aka chicken snake. They're found in a lot of places. Completely harmless to me, but before I filled in gaps I lost a lot of eggs and one broody had lost 3 chicks, a smaller snake was eating them as they were hatching!

This one scaled the tree in just a few seconds. The pics are actually taken from a video.

 

[Bonniebooboo]

It seems once the snakes find a food source they continue to return to that place. The large bull snake in the picture looks like it had a snack already. nice round bulge about midway down the snake. Surely there were more eggs for it to eat and it wants them. excellent pictures going up the tree.

 

[theuglychick]

You're right! They do return And then they tell all their friends, and their friends return, lol.

Here she is when I found her. You can see her egg-filled belly bulge better in this pic.

She was as long as I am tall, which isn't saying much, so she was over 4 feet, almost 5.

 

[Wise Woman]

Oh mercy! I couldn't bear finding that in my coop. My daughter lives way out in the country and she has a rat snake living in her yard. She doesn't bother it and it doesn't bother her, but she isn't afraid of snakes so it is all good and keeps the mice and rats under control. I will have to rely on the owls and the feral cats as I do not want snakes in my yard.

 

[Parront]

Owls like chicken, too! Doesn't sound like a lot of free-ranging in the future for your chickens! The best deterrent I have seen is electric fencing. My biggest problem was dogs, my own included. One zap on the nose, dog not interested in chickens any more. The dog would not even look in the direction of the nose-biting chicken coop! I bet snakes would not like it, either. I have used it to keep cats out of my garden, too!

 

[azygous]

Where is "the enchanted forest"? You may not have snakes that climb in your locale, so you wouldn't need to be concerned. I have plenty of rattlesnakes where I live, and they are the only ones I need to be worried about. If you tell me where you are, I can tell you what snakes you have there that you would need to deal with.

 

[EggWalrus]

2 weeks ago I had a snake problem. Before opening the lid on back of the nest boxes to get the eggs, I usually look in thru the front, to make sure none of the girls are about to lay. I also check for eggs 3-4 times a day. I had collected the eggs last about 4pm and left 2 Fake eggs. I figured I would check one last time just before sunset. I open the nest lid and the Fake Eggs are gone!
Then I see why.
A 6ft snake was laid up in there with 2 big bulges in it. I shot the snake, cut his head off, and got my eggs back. It took a little effort to squeeze the first egg back through the snake and out is neck. But I got my porcelain eggs back, but now I'm very nervous about opening the nest lid if there are no birds in there. Btw, I have 3/8" hardware cloth buried 1 foot under and up to 3 feet with regular chicken wire above that. It's almost impossible to keep snakes out of chicken pens. Mothballs help a lot of you ring the pen with a bunch. But you have to keep the balls about 10 feet away or it will burn the chickens noses just like it does snakes. Good luck!