Im thinking snakes?

[tillyschick]

I noticed a few holes in my yard 2 weeks ago and thought maybe some kind of snake. I've now seen 2 holes in the chicken run. They were a pretty good size and deep. I haven't seen any snakes but I'm not sure what else it could be. What is the best thing to do? I filled the first one but not sure that even does anything. This next one I stuck a stick very deep inside until I figure out what to do with it. Would love any advice

 

[PD-Riverman]

Rats?

 

[Zoomie]

I've never seen a snake dig a hole. They do not have feet or claws etc. for doing that. They will sure use burrows made by some other creature, but I don't think hole-digging is in the snake's repertoire.

Most likely your holes were dug by some rodent or other. Rat is a good guess, but prairie dogs, gophers, chipmunks, ground squirrels etc. etc. might also be who is digging your holes. You could maybe use something like a game cam to see if you could spot the culprit, or if it's possible to do so without endangering anything else, you could put out traps. Maybe a trap down inside the hole?

 

[GreatBreeder]

Cicadas

 

[pennyJo1960]

where do you live please that would help do your have chickens, cats, dogs, ducks

 

[tillyschick]

I have 10 chickens and one dog. I live in north east Georgia. I know for sure I've seen chipmunks. But I have rooster who goes after anything so I was surprised to see it in the run. That's a good point about snakes not digging holes. I can ask around about a game camera.

 

[FrankHomestead]

I have hardware cloth on the bottom of my coop so nothing can dig in, you should do that if it becomes a problem