- May 19, 2013
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I have an ongoing problem. I have a chicken coop and a small pen attached, where the chickens are locked at night. We have an automatic door that closes just after dark, to keep them safe from varmints (raccoons, possums, skunks, and feral cats are the varmints I have seen or trapped). The chickens are free ranging in the daylight hours, on about 1 1/2 acres fenced, with a horse in it. I have been catching and relocating rat snakes for 2 years. They keep eating my eggs. Often, I don't see them, but, because I put out some fake eggs in the nests for my young chickens to know where to lay, I know it is snakes, because how else would fake eggs just disappear, in the daylight hours, not to be found anywhere? I believe they actually live under the coop, but the coop is too heavy to move. It's an 8 x 8 house made of wood, and the floor is raised about 8 inches off the ground, so there is plenty of space under there for snakes. I don't want to kill the snakes, I just want them to go somewhere else and stop eating my eggs. People say moth balls or a product specifically to keep snakes away are not an option. I feel like they would be dangerous to the chickens and to the horse. Anyone have any suggestions? My coop area is varmint proof when they are locked in at night, but still the snakes could squeeze out from under the house at any time (usually in the day is when the eggs disappear). So I do not know how many eggs I should be getting. I'm only getting 2/day, from 6 hens. Some of them are 6 or 7 months old, so may not be laying yet. But the fact remains that fake eggs are disappearing, so I'm guessing some real eggs are also disappearing.