Guineas and snakes

[Haulinbass02]

Sooooo, I have heard this from several people and was wondering if it is true. Do guineas kill snakes or just deter them from coming around or what? My FIL keeps telling me I need to get a couple of guineas to keep the snakes away and am wondering why he says that. He says that he heard it somewhere, so I am trying to figure out if there is actually merit to the statement.

The problem is the rat snakes that have been coming around lately. No problems last year and now they are everywhere this year. And I don't even have my chicken coop or chickens yet!!! I have got to get that under control before I get my chickies!!!

 

[damselfish]

I have heard it to, but the one time I saw my guineas near a snake (small), they were discussing it, not eating it.

 

[robin416]

They will let you know they're there but don't do much about them. I've seen four and five footers that the Guineas never noticed and saw the same thing with the discussing about what to do about a small one.

Although I will say when my Guineas here my gun go off they come running to find out what's up and will join in to take care of the trouble. Problem is that means they are usually between me and what I'm shooting at. The last time was a four or five foot poisonous snake. They went after it but when the snake struck out at them they decided they'd just let me shoot it.

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

Ever since I have had guineas, I have not seen ANY snakes in or near the chicken coop or even outside for that matter. When i first got them i found a black one dead that seemed to be attacked by the guineas, but I am not 100% sure. I really think they were the ones that did it though. Hope this helps!

 

[robin416]

Three weeks or so ago I relocated a black snake heading for my chicken coop, the Guineas never paid any attention at all to what I was doing. I had a black snake constrict two of my Dutch hens, the Guineas didn't do much about that one either.

Last week my husband saw a four footer moving away from the Guinea coop. They didn't do anything about that one either.

So either my Guineas rely on me to kill or remove the snakes or the snake thing is blown out of proportion.

 

[tcmstalcup]

mine do not tolerate snakes. I live in rattlesnake country but they don't last long anywhere near the house or chicken house or barns.

 

[robin416]

Day before yesterday I was in the Guinea coop doing stuff, several of the birds were in there with me. Then a couple of them did the discussion thing and when I looked there was a black snake curled in the corner of the coop. They never made a move on it, just talked.

 

[racuda]

I found a small snake in the compost pile the other day. I tossed it toward a group of Guineas. They encircled it, peering at it, and then just walked away.

 

[fishman65]

Last week i heard the guineas go nuts and start jumping around in a circle, I have seen them do this before and knew exactly what they were doing, they had found a snake and had to check it out, once again they had found and alerted me to a copperhead snake in the grass. after helping them take care of the snake they all got a big scoop of scratch and scrambled eggs. Proper pay for a job well done. I have never seen them kill a snake but they are real good at harassing snakes to the point that they just want to leave and not come back.

 

[keet factory]

Guineas can be taught to kill snakes, it just takes some time. Young flocks will typically just chatter at a snake and harass it, but the older birds will kill a snake, especially if it is on the small side.

My guineas learned to run down the large desert lizards in my back 2, becoming so efficient that the lizards are now done extinct. It is a shame because the lizards were cool to have around and were beneficial. They could crawl under boards and plywood piles and eat the insects.