Chickens and Snakes

[jazzpurr]

Is there any possiblity that a chicken coop could attract
snakes?

My wife freaks out when she sees a snake.

We have lots of non-poisonous snakes here. Gardeners and ring necks
mostly. But there are Copperheads and Rattlers in the area as well.
I can see the smaller snakes being attracked to the eggs.

Will the chickens confront a smaller non-poisonous snake or
do they just freak out and run...like my wife?

I have decided to build my coop on the back side of an abandoned
garage pad. The floor is 4" thick concrete. Two opposing walls
are concrete block. The north and south walls are what I have to build
and they will be draft proof and I hope predator proof by the time I get done.

Any snake stories would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[BeckyLa]

Sad to say, but my experience has been that yes, snakes are attracted to chickens. That being said, in the past the only problem I had was a resident black snake that would eat eggs but was harmless toward people. Last summer, on our new farm, we had a chicken snake kill a roughly 2 month old banty chick. I don't know if they do or not, but I have not had a poisonous snake kill a chick or steal eggs.

 

[prariechiken]

Chicken coops attract rodents, rodents attract snakes, snakes will eat eggs and young chicks. I had a OEG hen one time that fought with a snake all night after he squeezed into a brooder and ate a couple of her chicks, (the "lumps" in his gut wouldn't let him get back out the way he came in-I helped him get out in pieces). If you try to keep after any rodent infestation, you can lower the possibility of snakes. Just one of the "hazards" of raising chickens I guess. The only chickens I have lost to poisonous snakes, only 1 I can remember, was a young oeg stag who must have went in to peck/investigate a rattle snake, was bit and died.

 

[pegbo]

We do have rattlesnakes here in NY, but they're timber rattlers and I have yet to see one! I used to have alot of garter snakes but last year I saw an increase of corn snakes. They seem a bit more agressive towards animals and humans. I know they're in the family of constrictors and I think that is what I'm going to have to watch out for this summer. I'm just afraid that my girls and boys will go after them, as they love anything that wiggles!!!

 

[V Chic Chick]

I've never had a snake around my coop, and there have been stories of chickens killing snakes. Usually they are just after the eggs rather than the birds.

 

[crazy4daisy]

Simple story - My great grandpa was a chicken person and loved his chickens. One day he found a black snake stuck in a hole in the coop with a lump on one side of the hole and one on the outside of the hole. Turns out the snake had come in the coop door and ate an egg, went outside and popped through the hole to snatch another egg, and once he swallowed the second egg, he was completely stuck. He took care of it with a hoe and the snake came out in peices

 

[CarriBrown]

Someone on the other BYC board was saying something about how they found a snake curled up with a hen in the nest, waiting for her to lay it's lunch!

 

[leslie0815]

Last summer I was having trouble with snakes, I lost a few biddies to some. I had an old farmer tell me to get a bag of yellow sulpher, you can find it at walmart in the garden dept. I sprinkled it around all my pens, after that I didn't have any losses to snakes. Some of the old timers know their stuff. Good luck...Leslie

 

[prariechiken]

I have heard of the yellow sulfur remedy before, some swear by it, others say it just makes their yard stink.... Might be worth a shot though. Another quick snake story.... Worked late, went out to the barn to tuck in the flock, and as I was counting heads in the freerange pen, a "bug" kept tickling the back of my neck....After about the third time, I turned the flashlight to see to swat at the culprit, and instead was looking eye to eye with a 4 foot black snake hanging from the rafters, his tongue had been "tasting" the back of my neck.... Had to buy a new flashlight that week...

 

[soonerdog]

I guess I would have dropped dead with a heart attack!