Snake in the chick cage, killed two, one eaten. SO MAD *picture added*

[Miss Red]

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I've used golf balls and wooden eggs in the past. They work wonderfully for clogging snakes up, although for the most part they never get past the dogs.. Hah. Good luck with your chicks and sorry for your loss.

 

[shaky]

Rat snakes constrict. They almost never will eat until the prey is dead.
They prefer warm-blooded prey like birds and rodents.
Use hardware cloth to keep them out.
They can squeeze into fairly small holes, but snake that are large enough to eat chicks cant fit through anything smaller than a quarter.
BTW-they are harmless to humans, though they will strike - not from anger or meanness but defensively.

 

[chickbird]

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i live in town and have had 3 of these visit my coop.

 

[chickbird]

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my grandmother was bitten by one and it caused a large portion of the calf of her leg to slough out...non-poisionous snakes mouths contain all sorts of bacteria.

 

[chickbird]

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i have trapped 2 ...6ft long using netting like you drape over vegetables or berries..it is cheap and you can buy it at lowes... i live in south ga. and we have a pond supply company tht sells it to keep around ponds to keep poisonous and non-poisonous snakes out.

 

[Mr chicken dude]

That right there is a Texas Rat Snake no doubt about it in my mind.....

Check out the markings on his back and on his side...


http://www.natureking.com/images/md/texas_rat_snake.jpg

MCD

 

[NarutoTn]

i killed a chicken snake yesterday and it was invading the regular birds here and i herd it in the attic killing a nest of blue birds.but we found a hole and seen the snake and killed iit.it was 3-5 feet because its body wouldnt straighten to measure it...

 

[Valley quail breeder]

I found 4 snakes in my quail pens this month each one was around 5' long I lost around 20 quail so far.

 

[catsmithpuddin]

Hate to dredge up a year old thread but I have killed 3 snakes in the last week. a week ago it was a small chicken snake and a king snake that insisted on living under the brooder (chicks were still mouse sized). Last night there was a chicken snake in the nesting box with two eggs down already. Been a busy week.

 

[TriciaHowe]

Yep, it's getting to be that time of the year. I cannot use my huge brower brooder anymore because I can't keep the snakes out of it..... Lost more chicks than I raised last year. It's in my feed room and I have no idea how they keep getting in there. So now I just don't use it. I am trying to find a new place to put it that might be a bit more secure. The dogs keep all the snakes away from everywhere else.
Sorry about your snakes....

I also had one eat all of my button quail one night - about 10 of them. Haven't had the heart to get any more since. They were the cutest things ever.