Identify this snake?

[microchick]

Don't get me wrong. I respect snakes (non- venomous) for the job they do concerning rodent control. I've handled snakes, small garter/bull/black, etc newly hatched to save them from a sure death via lawn mower and sent them on their way. But on the other hand, I don't have any problem with sending any snake on it's way to whatever pearly gates snakes go to when you let them have it with a load of pepper shot when they threaten one of our dogs or act in a threatening manner if I encounter one in the wild (sorry, non venomous snakes can't kill you but they carry a lot of germs in their mouths. I have no desire to be bitten by one)).

As for snakes hanging around my coops and runs, sure. Go for it. Eat those rats and mice that pop up, just don't develop a taste for chicks or eggs. I got me some pretty tough little roosters who'll rip your scales off and my feelings about snakes eating chicks is pretty well summed up in this picture:

Sic em girls! Sic em!

I dunno. I have to admit, I sorta feel sorry for this poor snake. Do you think he is thinking....
Oh.....CRAP!

 

[Henrybelle]

No non venomous snakes can’t kill you but serious infections can.

 

[lazy gardener]

Love the herd of guineas around the snake. I had 6 gals having a meeting about a large garter snake that invaded their run last Saturday. They had no idea what to do about it. Apparently, this is the year of the snake for me. Saw 4 within a 48 hour time period. Thankfully, no venemous ones here.

 

[Chickassan]

I removed the first snake ever out of the coop this morning, big black snake. Chickens did nothing! One broody fav screeched at it, but she screeches at leaves. Now iv'e got second hand poison ivy from the snake. Bright side, snake did not bite " not for lack of trying" or poop on me.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

...All I can say is I hope the snakes do not cross my path.

Lady blue, didn't you mean to say that the snakes better hope that they don't cross your path?
There is a worlds of difference between killing every snake that you see while looking for more and making your hens and their children safe inside of their own coop by killing a few random shakes that take up residence there..

If snakes are attracted to your coop because of the rats then what attracted the rats? Why naturally your chickens and their food, so it is more than fair to blame the presence of snakes on chickens. This is circular reasoning. I can use circular logic to prove that Ray Charles, Little Stevie Wonder or Helen Keller is God.

Do what you find best to protect your flock just don't blab about it to much because there are a world of people like Judge Roy Moore out there who would turn on a fellow human in a heart beat if you harmed one scale on one of their precious snakes. That is the lesson the story of Ann Frank is about. Stool Pigeons, Rat Finks, and other assorted but un-named vermin.

 

[Foodfromhome]

I used to keep more than a dozen snakes in college and think they are very neat critters. Now I keep chickens and snakes eat chicks and eggs so they got to die around here. Just is what it is.

 

[Jemma Rider]

I understand that many people do not agree with me on reptile opinions. I love all snakes and think that they are adorable, as well as any other type of reptile. I have owned a few and I have a Frog right now. Many of these wonderful creatures are very misunderstood because of their looks, appetite for small, usually cute animals and also for the fact that some of them have venom. I think that every animal has a purpose (except maybe mosquitoes!) and that they should all be treated equally.

Rat snake, chicken snake, whatever. I have secure protection from predators and so should everyone else. It’s your responsibility to keep your hens and eggs safe. I wish to remind you that people eat chicken and eggs raised in much worse conditions. I would rather know that a possibility starving creature got a good healthy meal, than that thousands upon thousands of people eat the crap coming out of factory farms every day, supporting the death of millions of male chicks and cruel treatment of hens.

I’m sorry I got off topic, but that’s just my strange, weird, but honest and heartfelt opinion on the matter.

Have a nice evening.

this entire thing is also off topic but same here, i love any reptile and just fished a rat snake out of my father's pool a few days ago, such a cute little guy. I've always wanted snakes but my aunts and my mother all have phobias. I own two reptiles (a tortoise and a bearded dragon, used to have two dragons but Roxy was abused by her previous owner and passed away from complications after surgery to fix the damage done to her internal organs).
Snakes in general are more afraid of people then we are of them. The reason they bite is almost always because they were provoked or handled wrong. I feel it's the responsibility of the chicken keeper to keep out the snakes (but keeping in mind snakes are little cat burglars this isn't always possible). My coop and run are both snake proof (to the best of my knowledge) and if any of my snakes get in they deserve a good egg (my chickens are all on the large side and i haven't seen any snakes big enough to eat my chooks or even try). I catch my snakes regularly and know a few of my favorites by name. i expect i will have an issue with them later in the summer but until then the snakes are my friends and i will always relocate the troublesome ones, after all they were here before me and deserve to live just as much as my chickens. plus I'm aracnophobic so i welcome any kind of pest control when it comes to spiders (as long as the spiders stay out of my house and coop I'm okay, but of course they never listen and end up being smashed anyway).
I love that you mentioned the male chicks they were the deciding factor when i gave up farmed eggs, i suppose i could just be odd but i love my snakes and i feel like people just don't understand how snakes minds work. Like any other animal (including people) their ultimate goal is to survive and reproduce, they don't know right from wrong or think before grabbing an easy meal (such as an egg or a small chicken). But as i said i might just be odd, i mean my best friend is a rooster so it's quite plausible I've lost my mind.

 

[Chickassan]

I forgot to mention the snake is fine, I took it to the woods edge and let it go.Plenty of stuff to eat and a pond. I did the snake a solid.

 

[microchick]

Nothing wrong in liking snakes. Just not everybody does and I think it's a given that most people who have posted all have the same feeling about snakes getting after chicks, eggs or whatever. Nobody wants that to happen.

I admire reptiles. We have some beautiful lizards and frogs along with snakes. It's not unusual where we live to find a Skink or two that has found their way into the house in the spring and I have to play hunt and catch the lizard before the cats do.

I think it's admirable that the OP is trying to identify a snake and not just automatically lopping it's head off like my mother would do when I was growing up.

My general feeling about them is live and let live...But. I'm not going to let a poisonous snake threaten or bite one of us or one of our dogs and I'm not going to let any snake harm one of my chicks or young bantams. I don't go to their dens and they aren't going to invade my space either.

Except for the time a young bull snake found it's way into our basement and I stepped on it while cleaning the cat litter containers. Scared the living crap out of me! It was so stupid from the cold concrete floor that we were able to scoop it into a box and carry it outside to a place where it could find shelter before the worse winter weather set in.

Silly thing thought it had found the perfect hibernation spot. He was just lucky I found him before the cats did.

 

[TheYLWFlock]

this entire thing is also off topic but same here, i love any reptile and just fished a rat snake out of my father's pool a few days ago, such a cute little guy. I've always wanted snakes but my aunts and my mother all have phobias. I own two reptiles (a tortoise and a bearded dragon, used to have two dragons but Roxy was abused by her previous owner and passed away from complications after surgery to fix the damage done to her internal organs).
Snakes in general are more afraid of people then we are of them. The reason they bite is almost always because they were provoked or handled wrong. I feel it's the responsibility of the chicken keeper to keep out the snakes (but keeping in mind snakes are little cat burglars this isn't always possible). My coop and run are both snake proof (to the best of my knowledge) and if any of my snakes get in they deserve a good egg (my chickens are all on the large side and i haven't seen any snakes big enough to eat my chooks or even try). I catch my snakes regularly and know a few of my favorites by name. i expect i will have an issue with them later in the summer but until then the snakes are my friends and i will always relocate the troublesome ones, after all they were here before me and deserve to live just as much as my chickens. plus I'm aracnophobic so i welcome any kind of pest control when it comes to spiders (as long as the spiders stay out of my house and coop I'm okay, but of course they never listen and end up being smashed anyway).
I love that you mentioned the male chicks they were the deciding factor when i gave up farmed eggs, i suppose i could just be odd but i love my snakes and i feel like people just don't understand how snakes minds work. Like any other animal (including people) their ultimate goal is to survive and reproduce, they don't know right from wrong or think before grabbing an easy meal (such as an egg or a small chicken). But as i said i might just be odd, i mean my best friend is a rooster so it's quite plausible I've lost my mind.

I agree with you whole heartedly! You have a better knack for saying it then I do, lol! If it’s a venomous snake I don’t want it around obviously, but the only snake like that we have is a rattler and they stick to the hill slopes, not the city!