snake suggestions welcome here!

[shesaredroan]

Quote:
OMG mpguay,
Hope you're OK after your snake bite!!!! You must be a very brave sole......I'd NEVER grab a snake.....I shoot them, dispatch with a sharp shovel/hoe or run from them, depending on the situation!!!!
I'd say YES this snake could have eaten a bittie. My chickens have never alerted on a snake, so the hens have never taught the bitties to be wary.
I have had mockingbirds alert on a 'chicken/rat' snake as it slithered through my backyard towards my hen house, a sharp shovel took care of the situation!!!
Hope your're OK!

 

[mpguay]

for a 5 foot snake, it was a puny bite. and I was NOT letting go of that baby killer!

 

[chilling in muscadine]

Quote:
If you have cats and dogs the mothballs are bad for the kidneys or liver one. I would relocate to a secluded area or check with your neighbors and see if any need it to turn lose in there barn. I do snake rescues for the county and I always have someone wanting a rat snake for there barn.
S@R@

 

[jlasuzi]

I think it definitely could have eaten a 3 day old chick. Glad you took care of it!

 

[JustJane]

A couple of weeks ago I reached into the nest box for eggs and grabbed a very long black snake, Yikes! My brave daughter eventually got it out and tossed it into the creek, it swam away. I have been looking first ever since. Yesterday there was a different black snake in there. I called her and her hubby became my hero of the evening. He picked up the snake and bagged it for me. I drove 10 miles away and turned it loose in the forest. Today there was another one. It made the mistake of letting part of its body hang out of the nest box. I grabbed it with BBQ tongs and bagged it. Tonight it will go for a car ride like the last one. I looked on the internet for snake repellent and found a recipe for cinnamon oil and clove oil mixed together. I mixed cinnamon and cloves with canola oil and added a few red hot pepper flakes and nuked it for a minute. Then I added some flowers of sulphur and painted it on the nest box and roosts. Smells interesting and won't hurt my chickens. Time will tell... Going to the store for moth balls tomorrow, Thank you for that one. I have two broodie hens, one due to hatch in 5 days, the other one started 4 days ago. Gotta protect them from varments. Dang coyote got my cat, so I got a gun, 22 mag with hollow points just for the coyote.

 

[Connorrm]

Next time if you can, I'd suggest relocating the snake. They don't have a "home range" like many predators. Plus, they eat rats, mice, and other pesky chicken coop pests!

 

[hudsonhousechicks]

Snakes freak me out. My girls found a small snake (maybe a foot long?) in the compost bin over the weekend and they tore it to pieces and gobbled it up. I'm sure they couldn't handle a larger snake. I hope I never find one out there, that's all I gotta say : /

 

[MrsRevDr]

I found a 2' rat snake on top of my pen that has my "teenagers", just a word about "relocating", please make sure it's somewhere where no one lives. I live in the country and it seems people like to drop of things on the edge of my woods...mainly cats. They eventually fine their way to me. Someone else suggested blowing an egg out and filling it with salt as a more natural way to rid yourself of a snake (if you must).

 

[Melinda35]

There is a sprinkle called something like Snake Away. I just saw it at TSC over the weekend. The plastic container has purple on it. I can't remember all the ingredients but cinnamon is one of them. I am pretty sure that it is an all natural ingredient mixture. I have used it in the past but not since I relocated my chickens. I guess I better put some out tomorrow. I also use plastic eggs. They help the chickens know where to lay and they are also not digestable to a snake. I had a chicken snake eat three of them this fall. I am pretty sure he was half dead by the time I shot him.

Glad you got there in time!

 

[bryan99705]

Look into guinea fowl - they love to eat snakes