SNAKE, SNAKE, SNAKE!!!!

[Sylviaanne]

Copperhead! We were out putting the chickens and ducks up last night and I was inside messing around with them. I thought my husband had gone back to the house and when I came out of the building he was sitting on a nearby bench with his flashlight pointed up under his face. He startled me but not because of the light, which is what he thinks but because I didn't know he was there. We started to go to the house and I saw movement right in front of my feet. He was moving the flashlight across the ground back and forth and he moved the light close enough for me to see the movement was slithering. I could not dance backwards fast enough. I really need to lose some weight so I am lighter on my feet again. At the same time I am screaming, 'SNAKE! SNAKE! SNAKE!' and pulling on my husband's arm. He's flashing the light around and kept missing the snake and finally found it headed for the coop.

Aaaaaaaaaah! My chickens, chicks, ducks and duck eggs!

He grabbed a 2x4 and slammed the end down on the snake's body so it couldn't get away but it still almost got under the coop. I grabbed a rock rake and tried to pin it's head down. That rake is curved and it was hard to pin the snake's head down with it. Finally got him pinned and told my husband to release it and try to smash the head with the end of the 2x4. There wasn't enough neck sticking out from under the rake to kill it so he went to smashing the body. After that, I had him pin the body down and I beat the **** out of the head. If there are bones or cartilage in a snakes head, there wasn't by the time I got done with him. My husband kept saying, "It's dead. It's dead now, you can stop." I didn't stop until you couldn't recognize what I was beating on.

Now, I'm just afraid that it might have had a mate and maybe even babies around somewhere. My son came in and when we told him what happened he said we should have left the snake for the chickens to eat. We really didn't think of that but it was like 4 ft long. I don't know how they would have eaten it. I'm glad I saw it and not them because it was so big it might have been too big for them to handle.

 

[Fuzzybottomgang]

So glad to know that I'm not the only "Chicken Lady" not happy in the least about finding a snake in the coop. Ours was a rattlesnake last week, and it was all curled up in the doorway when I opened the door around 5:45. Grateful for that rattling sound and that it was big enough to see even without my glasses! Thank God my husband heard my hysterical screams and came to my rescue and beat it to death. We too store a variety of sticks or pvc pipes near the gate so they were the weapons that provided the many death blows! I too am very uneasy to be in the coop and haven't made a solo trip their yet!

We are looking for any great helpful hints on how to eliminate the mouse population and eliminate any other snakes lurking in/around/near the coop.

Black Hills of SD

 

[pfields]

We've killed 15 rattlesnakes since March of this year. The last one was almost 5 ft. and it's body was bigger than my upper arm. I'm not brave enough to try and kill one of these with a shovel or hoe. I keep my pistol loaded with rat shot. It works nicely.

 

[desert farmer]

We have a bunch of cats some we keep in the barn and some in the other buildings but for 6 of them we feed them by the coop.... everytime we get a new cat we give it its own place to eat and get water....

Whee I am in New Mexico it is overrun with coyotes, mice, rats, rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, mountain lions, bob cats and every once in a while a black bear or 2 . the cats help with all those... as for the coyotes the cats bring them in close enough to shoot...

Also we have a assortment of shotguns around the farm and the wife and kids don't go outside without snake shot..... Thats pretty normal here on the cap rock...we also have dogs that will alert to predators and snakes..

Some of the other things we do is my wife throws the onion peels and scraps around.. Some will say it dont work but we have a small fenced in front yard it smells like onions but we always find the rattle and other snakes around the outside of the fence never inside the fence.... Be warned the mice will eat the onion peels... and full turn back to the cats

We also use moth balls unde the house and they seem to wok well..

 

[starsevol]

I know you want to protect your hens......but the snakes do perform a valuable service. The rodents they eat spread hantavirus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the plague. They can have a litter at only five weeks old and reproduce at an alarming rate. They destroy crops. Without snakes the world would be overrun and starving.

I wish I had been there.
I would have gladly moved it for you.
Now all those rodents that snake would have eliminated will reproduce.

 

[desert farmer]

A snake will eat a rodent every few days my cats will kill several a night These rattlesnakes can kill me.. My cats will rub on my leg and purrrrrrrrr not counting the bull and other non poisonous snakes... I leave those for the cats to handle.. I alone shoot 30 to 60 rattlers a summer maybe run over another 20 or so... up here we kill them NO ifs ands or buts.. Here its a hour drive to a aid station then they fly you out to amarillo tx.... maybe you make it maybe you don't... Ya we kill them all and like for others to do the same thing...

As for my silos one full of milo and the other full of wheat no one knows better than I about the damage mice and rats can do to my seed and feed.. but the cats are way better then the snakes are.

 

[starsevol]

I can and do see your point. I truly understand where you are coming from.

One of my other hobbies is keeping snakes, I have several corn snakes in an array of colors and one big sweet old blotched king. With venomous snakes, I know that deadly measures need to be taken sometimes.

I think what bothers me is the attitude that "the only good snake is a dead snake" from people who slaughter truly harmless and beneficial snakes. People who can't be bothered to know the difference.

And the slow painful beating to death of ANY living thing just kind of hurts my heart a little, you know?

 

[Sylviaanne]

So glad to know that I'm not the only "Chicken Lady" not happy in the least about finding a snake in the coop. Ours was a rattlesnake last week, and it was all curled up in the doorway when I opened the door around 5:45. Grateful for that rattling sound and that it was big enough to see even without my glasses! Thank God my husband heard my hysterical screams and came to my rescue and beat it to death. We too store a variety of sticks or pvc pipes near the gate so they were the weapons that provided the many death blows! I too am very uneasy to be in the coop and haven't made a solo trip their yet!

We are looking for any great helpful hints on how to eliminate the mouse population and eliminate any other snakes lurking in/around/near the coop.

Black Hills of SD

Unfortunately, snakes eat mice. But then I have been reading about chickens catching, killing and eating mice too. I just don't know why some do and some don't.

 

[Sylviaanne]

We've killed 15 rattlesnakes since March of this year. The last one was almost 5 ft. and it's body was bigger than my upper arm. I'm not brave enough to try and kill one of these with a shovel or hoe. I keep my pistol loaded with rat shot. It works nicely.

`But where is the pleasure of beating it to death if you can stand several yards away and kill it with a gun? LOL I wanted to kill it. I knew that if it has not eaten any of my chicks or eggs it would have and it made me angry.

 

[Sylviaanne]

We have a bunch of cats some we keep in the barn and some in the other buildings but for 6 of them we feed them by the coop.... everytime we get a new cat we give it its own place to eat and get water....

Whee I am in New Mexico it is overrun with coyotes, mice, rats, rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, mountain lions, bob cats and every once in a while a black bear or 2 . the cats help with all those... as for the coyotes the cats bring them in close enough to shoot...

Also we have a assortment of shotguns around the farm and the wife and kids don't go outside without snake shot..... Thats pretty normal here on the cap rock...we also have dogs that will alert to predators and snakes..

Some of the other things we do is my wife throws the onion peels and scraps around.. Some will say it dont work but we have a small fenced in front yard it smells like onions but we always find the rattle and other snakes around the outside of the fence never inside the fence.... Be warned the mice will eat the onion peels... and full turn back to the cats

We also use moth balls unde the house and they seem to wok well..

At a small animal swap yesterday we learned that using ammonia on a rag and tying it on the run fence about 4 foot high keeps some predators away. I don't suppose it would work on mice though.