Mr. Not so welcomed friend Kill or not?

[jak2002003]

I can't kill anything, especially wild native animals just trying to survive (that were living there a long time before people arrived and started using up land). I am so soft even if a spider is in the house I have to catch it under a glass and let it out lol.

It is also a waste of time, money, and animals lives (dead chickens and also shot predators), to just keep killing everything that gets into the coop. If one predator can get in , then they will just keep coming and you will have to keep 'controlling' them.

The real answer is to make the coop predator proof in the first place.

Then everything can live fine.

My ducks were vanishing about 1 every week or so. It turned out to be a huge python. I spotted him one night scoffing down on a fat duck. He was amazing to see, and beautiful powerful predator native to my area (and very rare as they are killed on sight by locals who eat them).

This was when I allowed my ducks to sleep out on an island in their lake.

It was simple for me to lock the ducks up in a big wire dog cage each evening, and let them out in the daytime. I never lost any more, and the snake can still live too.

I also had a dog get into my garden and into my chickens run. It killed and injured many birds (and they are my much loved pets). It kept coming back every day for another go. So I got my friend to help me build a really strong thick metal mesh covered run. Since then the dog has given up and I feel safe when I go out when my birds are secure in their run.

 

[coffeekittie]

I can't kill anything, especially wild native animals just trying to survive (that were living there a long time before people arrived and started using up land). I am so soft even if a spider is in the house I have to catch it under a glass and let it out lol.

It is also a waste of time, money, and animals lives (dead chickens and also shot predators), to just keep killing everything that gets into the coop. If one predator can get in , then they will just keep coming and you will have to keep 'controlling' them.

The real answer is to make the coop predator proof in the first place.

Then everything can live fine.

My ducks were vanishing about 1 every week or so. It turned out to be a huge python. I spotted him one night scoffing down on a fat duck. He was amazing to see, and beautiful powerful predator native to my area (and very rare as they are killed on sight by locals who eat them).

This was when I allowed my ducks to sleep out on an island in their lake.

It was simple for me to lock the ducks up in a big wire dog cage each evening, and let them out in the daytime. I never lost any more, and the snake can still live too.

I also had a dog get into my garden and into my chickens run. It killed and injured many birds (and they are my much loved pets). It kept coming back every day for another go. So I got my friend to help me build a really strong thick metal mesh covered run. Since then the dog has given up and I feel safe when I go out when my birds are secure in their run.

I like the way you handled those problems! I wish I had planned better at the start of my raising poultry in order to prevent racoons etc from getting into the pens. I still think about killing the coons and feel bad. Not something I want to repeat.

 

[Sparrow]

Actually, EVERYTHING carries disease, bacteria and parasites in their feces. Especially our chickens. Snakes only poop every several days, so that is not a valid concern. And, I am a snake keeper, and have been for 20 years. I have been bitten by many different sizes and species of snake, and NEVER once have I gotten an infection. Even when I had a snake tooth break off and stay in my arm for a week(hardly any pain involved) it still didn't get infected. Non-venomous snake bites are nothing traumatic or dangerous, frankly, getting pecked by a mad hen hurts far worse.

 

[Sparrow]

I can't kill anything, especially wild native animals just trying to survive (that were living there a long time before people arrived and started using up land). I am so soft even if a spider is in the house I have to catch it under a glass and let it out lol.

It is also a waste of time, money, and animals lives (dead chickens and also shot predators), to just keep killing everything that gets into the coop. If one predator can get in , then they will just keep coming and you will have to keep 'controlling' them.

The real answer is to make the coop predator proof in the first place.

Then everything can live fine.

My ducks were vanishing about 1 every week or so. It turned out to be a huge python. I spotted him one night scoffing down on a fat duck. He was amazing to see, and beautiful powerful predator native to my area (and very rare as they are killed on sight by locals who eat them).

This was when I allowed my ducks to sleep out on an island in their lake.

It was simple for me to lock the ducks up in a big wire dog cage each evening, and let them out in the daytime. I never lost any more, and the snake can still live too.

I also had a dog get into my garden and into my chickens run. It killed and injured many birds (and they are my much loved pets). It kept coming back every day for another go. So I got my friend to help me build a really strong thick metal mesh covered run. Since then the dog has given up and I feel safe when I go out when my birds are secure in their run.

Speaking personally, that sounds like a reptile keeper's dream, being able to see a large python in it's native habitat. Rather deal with that than mammalian predators anyday!

 

[Campine]

Let them be, they eat a lot of rodents and will keep away copperheads.

 

[rbaker0345]

I accidentally killed a snake that was eating my eggs last year and now I am overrun with palmetto bugs and eggs. He was only eating one egg a week, but apparently that was just to tide him over between mice. I'm praying for a snake in my coop because I refuse to put down poison. If my dog or chickens kill or eat a rat or a mouse that eats the poison, the poison could kill my dog or chickens.

That is a beautiful snake, just don't let any of your hens hatch eggs where the snake can get them. Kennel cabs make good snake-proofable hatchers and they also keep other hens from bothering your sitting hen.

 

[rbaker0345]

Actually, EVERYTHING carries disease, bacteria and parasites in their feces. Especially our chickens. Snakes only poop every several days, so that is not a valid concern. And, I am a snake keeper, and have been for 20 years. I have been bitten by many different sizes and species of snake, and NEVER once have I gotten an infection. Even when I had a snake tooth break off and stay in my arm for a week(hardly any pain involved) it still didn't get infected. Non-venomous snake bites are nothing traumatic or dangerous, frankly, getting pecked by a mad hen hurts far worse.

Oh my god, you are so right. My albino corn bit me once when he was little and it was nothing like getting spurred in the flesh of my hand by my roo. The snake bite was easy to clean, but the spurring was like getting stabbed in the hand with a pencil, so deep my whole hand swelled up and was useless for days.

Also, lets not forget that chickens and snakes are not that far apart on the evolutionary ladder. They carry the same diseases and actually, chickens are far more likely to give a snake a disease than vice versa.

It is never, never a good idea to kill a predator like a snake or a coyote or a wolf or a raccoon. The harm done by increasing the pest population is far outweighed by the benefit of getting rid of a predator.

Besides, that is a beautiful freakin' snake. Its a sin to kill something that majestic.

 

[Bikerschick]

Guys....come on. Would you bludgeon to death a marauding raccoon or oppossum? Neighbor dog? Didn't think so.

Erm... YES!!!
All coons, possums, aggressive stray dogs, feral cats, and grackles that I find in my yard are getting shot at.
If I don't have a gun handy, I'll settle for a shovel, axe, pruning shears... possibly a dang big rock even.
I raise chickens. I have a little pet goat. I have a lovable giant Newfoundland. And I have a guinea pig.
I don't have any tolerance for predators in my yard. They should maybe try further North? Just sayin'

OP - I vote to kill the thing.

 

[Sparrow]

Erm... YES!!!
All coons, possums, aggressive stray dogs, feral cats, and grackles that I find in my yard are getting shot at.
If I don't have a gun handy, I'll settle for a shovel, axe, pruning shears... possibly a dang big rock even.
I raise chickens. I have a little pet goat. I have a lovable giant Newfoundland. And I have a guinea pig.
I don't have any tolerance for predators in my yard. They should maybe try further North? Just sayin'

OP - I vote to kill the thing.

.....you do realize that killing Grackles, a federally protected migratory bird, is majorly illegal? That is a really, REALLY bad move. Just being caught keeping one will land you with major fines, let alone killing them. And what reason in the world would you have to kill them? Don't tell me they're a "pest" because they're not. They are native here. I have a hard time believing that you'd smash a raccoon to death with a rock...or with pruning shears. Or if you tried....good luck.

 

[Mrwinchester]

Erm... YES!!!
All coons, possums, aggressive stray dogs, feral cats, and grackles that I find in my yard are getting shot at.
If I don't have a gun handy, I'll settle for a shovel, axe, pruning shears... possibly a dang big rock even.
I raise chickens. I have a little pet goat. I have a lovable giant Newfoundland. And I have a guinea pig.
I don't have any tolerance for predators in my yard. They should maybe try further North? Just sayin'

OP - I vote to kill the thing.

Just how far north are you talking? we have enough predators here in Canada. lol