Huge Snake problems

[Seep77]

Thank you all for replying. Keep the ideas coming. Unfortunately pigs, and peacocks aren't an option for me either. I'm a little worried about the cost of covering my entire coop in snake wire. But I'll definitely be looking into the snake deterrent products. Does anyone know if there are any plants that repel snakes?

I did a google search for that exact topic and I got a huge list of different plants that have an odor that deters snakes. Plants like lemongrass, rosemary and peppermint are some I believe.

 

[Annie2007]

Best Plants that Naturally Repel Snakes | Updated for 2020 ...
I hope this helps

 

[CreveChris]

Ah! I have also owned one husky years ago. They are good wildlife deterrents also. They can snap an unwanted rodents or coons neck in a half a heartbeat. More quiet and faster than a trap or bullet and foolproof. My money is on them. Mine killed any animal that got into his enclosure and tried to steal his food at night. Sneaky and smart he was. He never misses his mark.

Yes! My two have the same dad and hunt together. My boy tossed his little sister lizards until she learned how to nab them herself. They pull cicadas out of the sky. Just not sure I want them getting bitten by a nasty snake mouth.

Yours seems like he was a very good boy.

 

[Cycomiko]

I rely on a healthy mockingbird population. One Saturday, I looked out the window, and saw a mockingbird giving a 6 ft black rat snake a hard time. I went out to see where it was going. As I watched it go under my pickup, I watched another equally long snake meet it, and they coiled together. As I was thinking of the 22 babies that would come, in the corner of my eye I see a mockingbird attaching a 5 footer coming from under my shed. I made an immediate decision all 3 are done. As much as I see the black rat snake as essential, living next to an old orchard field, they are so very plentiful and overpopulated. 4 years later, I find a black rat snake once in a while, and leave them alone... Unless they find a nesting box.
That said. Hardware cloth is your friend.

 

[CreveChris]

I rely on a healthy mockingbird population. One Saturday, I looked out the window, and saw a mockingbird giving a 6 ft black rat snake a hard time. I went out to see where it was going. As I watched it go under my pickup, I watched another equally long snake meet it, and they coiled together. As I was thinking of the 22 babies that would come, in the corner of my eye I see a mockingbird attaching a 5 footer coming from under my shed. I made an immediate decision all 3 are done. As much as I see the black rat snake as essential, living next to an old orchard field, they are so very plentiful and overpopulated. 4 years later, I find a black rat snake once in a while, and leave them alone... Unless they find a nesting box.
That said. Hardware cloth is your friend.

Hardware cloth is your friend. Moto for my build. Love, Snakeville, USA

 

[addctd2plnts]

I'm new and here just gathering information. The snake issue caught my eye because we have Black Racer Snakes on our farm and I LOATHE them. They are aggressive, although not venomous they will strike and they twist as they pull back to remove flesh. Watched one get through a knothole that I swear was only 1/4 inch one day, into the basement of our community music school. Had to get the park ranger. Was afraid some poor worker would go down there, run into that 6 ft long snake, and have a heart attack.

I was wondering....two things. I saw somewhere, maybe Youtube that people were using Minnow traps to catch snakes and baiting them with fresh chicken eggs. They did catch them! Despite my loathing I can't directly kill anything, so trapping them and moving them 30 miles across the Missouri River sounds good to me.

The second option I wondered about was whether poultry netting electrified would work? Then I found this man who has single strand electric wire .

You can't have any grass touching wire if you want it low, but it worked for him. I'm surprised it actually killed the snake but wonder if it was unusual because it was touching fence in two places, so current could flow through the snake instead of just zap it? I wonder if you had metal flashing that forced the snake to come upward, if you ran the wire right above it, if it would work better? Snakes on flat ground might get under or through electric fence, but if you direct them UPWARD, it seems like they'd be more likely to encounter the wire, trying to go over the metal flashing. As an extra bonus, maybe the metal would ground them and that would be the end. I loved garter and grass snakes up near Chicago but most of the Missouri snakes are horrific! I can't bear the idea of losing ducks or chickens to them....

Interested in what everyone thinks or anyone who has tried electric netting. Thought about calling Premier Fencing because they make electric fence for all sorts of applications. I bet they'd know the answer!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Yes! My two have the same dad and hunt together. My boy tossed his little sister k lizards until she learned how to nab them herself. They pull cicadas out of the sky. Just not sure I want them getting bitten by a nasty snake mouth.

Yours seems like he was a very good boy.

Yes! My two have the same dad and hunt together. My boy tossed his little sister lizards until she learned how to nab them herself. They pull cicadas out of the sky. Just not sure I want them getting bitten by a nasty snake mouth.

Yours seems like he was a very good boy.

Yes. He was awesome. You know what happened to him. I was so sick over it. I left my brother in law in charge of him which he lived just down the road from us. I thought the convenience would make things easy enough but however I was so wrong. We had our dog in a six foot enclosure which was huge with a rod on the bottom on top and bottom of the chain link fence so he couldn’t dig out. Then we had them build a fence within a fence to enter in order to feed him so that when we did enter to play or feed him that he couldn’t get out or escape etc. He was so fast and if he got out he was gone and he would chase the cows across the road and herd or kill any small dogs of the neighbors he could find out. It would be bad. So we would have to get him caught. But anytime we would we got him got right then. I However once when I was very pregnant he was out and we had him out and he got in a infestations if seed ticks. Not everyone is familiar with these. If you aren’t let me know but they are super small like a grain of mustard see almost down in the Southern states and they move in on an animal and they can wipe them out and kill them. They can take all the blood from them and make them totally anemic in a couple of hours. They can drain all of their blood in a matter of minutes. If they get full the animal l

Hardware cloth is your friend. Moto for my build. Love, Snakeville, USA

Hi speaking of Hardware cloth... are any of you finding out that it is becoming very scarce and or over priced in your neck of the woods???? I think everyone is becoming backyard flock owners if it is allowed in their areas and based on the authors who are producing all of these two for the price of one backyard chicken for idiots books that are getting kickbacks for pushing the brandname and or the type of product such as “hardware cloth” or say “Vetericyn” hotspot spray for example. Amazon has the price of this stuff jacked up so high it is unreal. I went to my feed store and got it much cheaper. Now hardware cloth that is another problem. It is scarce and high dollar. Also back to the books. I’m sorry I have gotten on my soap box. Being relatively new to poultry ownership but not new to animals or being around the barn, veterinary care, the co-op, anatomy of anything, pharmacology, and construction as well as gardening and farming. So I also researched chicken ownership heavily before I bought and I prepared. However, these books that are out there are rather embarrassing to chicken owners. Now I have to say. There are some dumbass folks out there that just go to TSC or the feed store and come home with chicks and are not the least bit prepared and don’t have the first clue. It is a wonder their chicks have a chance and they make it just fine. I read some of their posts and questions and my head wants to explode. They don’t know their vents from their beaks. They don’t even know they are supposed to feed them. I read that one time and I wanted to kill that woman. If I could have gotten through my phone and found her I would have choked her. Excuse my temper and language but that is ridiculous. The authors of those books though are just copying one persons book and changing a few words then calling it their own and changing the title to a new one and then calling it their own. It has no good information worth spot and their is no meat to it and bores the stew out of a person. However I have to get off my high horse now. They have created a chicken craze for money making scam purposes and I believe we will have lots of chickens that will become homeless rescue needs in about three to four years when they stop laying or become injured or when people get bored or the economy changed or the pandemic really becomes worse and our situation changes extremely. This is not a good thing. I need to really bring this up in another forum but I might get turn out of BYC???

 

[Saigey]

They actually sell snake glue traps. These caught several poisonous snakes out here. The snake gets stuck and you can choose to have animal control come get it or dispose of it in whatever way you see fit.

 

[CreveChris]

They actually sell snake glue traps. These caught several poisonous snakes out here. The snake gets stuck and you can choose to have animal control come get it or dispose of it in whatever way you see fit.

My pro trapper sells these for indoor (garage/attic) use. I provide habitat with my Watergarden and "raise" frogs, toads lizards...which help in my garden/farm. Even minnow traps catch mostly frogs. You can't trap "only" snakes, according to the trapper.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I rely on a healthy mockingbird population. One Saturday, I looked out the window, and saw a mockingbird giving a 6 ft black rat snake a hard time. I went out to see where it was going. As I watched it go under my pickup, I watched another equally long snake meet it, and they coiled together. As I was thinking of the 22 babies that would come, in the corner of my eye I see a mockingbird attaching a 5 footer coming from under my shed. I made an immediate decision all 3 are done. As much as I see the black rat snake as essential, living next to an old orchard field, they are so very plentiful and overpopulated. 4 years later, I find a black rat snake once in a while, and leave them alone... Unless they find a nesting box.
That said. Hardware cloth is your friend.

I will agree with you there on the mockingbirds. They are the state birds where I hail from. Mississippi that is. Cat birds will also chime in there and help as well. We have a great population at my house thankfully. My chicks can call like them and house sparrows which I think they believe one in particular is their long lost mom. Too funny. Another story. Another time. I’m hoping these birds will help my chicks when they go outside in their permanent housing soon. Looking forward to this. We went to another town and were able to buy enough hardwares cloth for their coop and run thank goodness. I was not wanting to order from Amazon on that deal. We have a Prime account but it’s still too pricey for the size and amount we needed. We wanted to use it for the entire run and not take chances with any other material because we have so many types of predators of various sizes and species it just didn’t make sense to take chances and have to lose birds. You invest money in the birds first, then time raising them, then the cost of all that, then you get attached to them as well as your family and kids, even my good dogs are attached now and protective of them - even of other neighbors chickens coming into the yard to try and find them to say hello. It was another funny story. No rooster involved. And they were a quarter to half mile down the road from their coop. So it just was stupid not to pay for the hardware cloth from the beginning and just install something or one product hopefully just one time and be done. Anyway. I’m going to be done her and wish you all luck with the snake issues and hope we don’t have one that is or the chickens can’t handle or the wild birds! Later,
Pam