desperate and heartbroken!

[suzychri]

hey y'all! i'm new on here. i found this site when i was searching for a solution to my problem, but i'm still at a loss as to what to do. i started out with 26 blue laced wyandottes in march. i put them in the coop several weeks ago, and lost four in one night. there were no wounds on them...just stretched out necks with s dried "slime" coating their head and necks. i knew immediately it was "bob", the rat snake that's lived out there with my chickens for years. i've never minded him eating my eggs...i never thought he'd be able to eat the baby chicks since they'd gotten so big. i was half right - he wasn't able to eat them...just kill them. i was heartbroken. then i started locking them up in the hutch at night...and i lost one more in there. then several "disappeared" from the coop and i still have no idea what happened to them or how anything managed to get in the coop, much less out. so we took care of bob, may he r.i.p. i've had 14 babies left for almost two weeks now. they're not fully grown, but quite large - way too large for a snake to eat. yet tonight when i went to lock them up, i found another dead one inside the hutch with the same stretched out neck and slimy covering over it's head. i'm just sick! i have no idea what to do...just sit and wait for all my babies to get picked off one at a time? they're not even getting eaten - just wasted. i have no idea where the snake can be hiding. i don't want to set poisen out because obviously it would get eaten by the babies. please, if anyone has any ideas on how to get rid of the snake before i lose anymore babies, post and let me know. Thanks!

 

[La Mike]

You can spread powdered sulpher around your outside egdges to keep the snakes out. You could also make sure you dont have any holes bigger than a 1/2 inch.!/2 inch hardware cloth will keep them out but depending on your coop size it could get expensive. Being (BOB) lived there so long I would surely bet he had friends.
Sorry for your losses.

 

[Tres Amigas]

Hi and

Sorry for your losses. The only thing you can do is find out how it's getting in your coop and fix the problem. Even tho Bob is now gone, his neighbors will take his place.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

I am so sorry for your losses!

If it were me I would look around for any slight gap (anyplace I can see light coming though) and seal it up. Obviously you need ventilation, but I would cover that over with hardwire. Then I would clean out the coops to make sure there is nothing hiding in the shavings. After all that, then I would do as the others have suggested.

I hope you have no more losses from snakes!!

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

Hi and welcome! So sorry for your losses! Every loss of chicken is a small hole in my heart, so I understand how you feel.
BYC will offer a wealth of info and advice!
One thing we have all learned (most the hard way) is your coop needs to be Fort Knox! As others said, thoroughly inspect every corner of your coop to find how it's getting in. I don't have much experience with snake attacks, but I've heard that some snakes can find a corner of the coop and curl up, so check your hay or bedding thoroughly as well.
That's all the advice that I can offer!
Good luck!