chicken snakes or any other snakes ? are these a a threat please help

[bonescrub]

well we got our first chicks yesterday morning. My wife has now asked me repeatedly about chicken snakes, and if they are a problem. Personally we live in the city and best i have ever seen is a rare grass snake.
so will snakes be draw to my house? I have a 4 y/o 2 y/o and a month old so i know that this is her concern.
thanks

 

[fowltemptress]

The thing that really draws snakes to a coop is leaving food out for rodents to get at. The snakes follow the rodents. Just make sure you keep your food in a sealed container, inaccessible to mice and rats, who are the real problem critters. Snakes are more beneficial than problematic, IMO. Depending on your city, I doubt snakes will ever be much of an issue.

 

[bonescrub]

so dont leave food out in a feeding tray 24/7? or are you saying dont leave a whoel bag of food out where it will drawn in rodents.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Before you go to bed, you need to make sure that all food is up and you also need to make sure that you store the chicken feed in galvanized trash cans so that rodents can't chew through it and get into the food. The rodents will be what attracts the snakes to the coop in the first place.

I don't know how you would keep all of the food up with the chicks though. They need to have access to food 24/7. I have been leaving food out for my chicks and haven't had any problems yet, thank heavens! I live in the country and I'm going to have to worry about snakes, because they hang around my yard every summer even before I had the chickens. Where your at in the city, I doubt you will have much of a problem.

If your wife is truly that worried about the snakes, investing in some Snake Away (you can get it at Wal-Mart) and sprinkling it around the coop might be worth her (and yours!) piece of mind.