Snake

[susan6sw]

I've had a black snake in my henhouse or in a local tree in the summer for several years. My hens and ducks live together in a fenced in area. I also have electric wire on the fence. My snake is gentle and could not hurt the grown chickens. She does occasionally eat an egg - I break an egg occasionally. She is now about 5 feet long and does an excellent job of keeping mice out of the chicken house. Leave her be even if you don't like snakes. Keep your newly hatched chicks in a spot the snake can't get at.

 

[marts]

Like Indiana Jones said
"Snakes , I hate snakes!"

 

[McChooky]

Like Indiana Jones said
"Snakes , I hate snakes!"

If I was going to feed a predator it would be an Owl not a snake .Here is an incomplete list of predators that eats bantams, chicks or chickens: squirrels, rats, mice, weasels, minks, skunks, raccoons, foxes,possums, snakes and crows. Owls eat all of the above and more !They do an excellent job of controlling the local population of predators ! Owls are also much easier to keep out of the coop and usually hunt (between dusk and daylight) when most chickens are still secure in coops.

 

[sspare]

I lost a few young hens to a snake and posted previously. After losing the hens I put an SD card in my Wyze cam. Today I noticed I was missing a lot of eggs, and the SD card paid off. See video. I have to come up with a snake defense plan.

Ignore the junk in the nest boxes. They aren't used and it keeps the young ones out at night.

The snake in the video is a completely harmless Black rat snake. They will not (and cannot) kill your chickens. They will eat the occasional egg and possibly a day old chick but they are incapable of killing and eating a full grown chicken.

Unless you have Burmese pythons where you live, your chickens are not in any danger. It's likely a secondary predator killing your hens.

Yep looks like a black snake. I had one in my coop looking for an occasional egg. Finally found it and relocated it. it hasn't been back but I'm always on the lookout for it or its cousins. Good luck. Not sure of any sure fire plan for deterring them.

 

[PhilSanchez]

I lost a few young hens to a snake and posted previously. After losing the hens I put an SD card in my Wyze cam. Today I noticed I was missing a lot of eggs, and the SD card paid off. See video. I have to come up with a snake defense plan.

Ignore the junk in the nest boxes. They aren't used and it keeps the young ones out at night.

That sucker has to go. A minnow trap will work.

 

[goldenyears]

Have you ever tried snake soup? Or scorpion?
Bo

 

[Suzy P]

I lost a few young hens to a snake and posted previously. After losing the hens I put an SD card in my Wyze cam. Today I noticed I was missing a lot of eggs, and the SD card paid off. See video. I have to come up with a snake defense plan.

Ignore the junk in the nest boxes. They aren't used and it keeps the young ones out at night.

What’s your plan to keeping your flock safe

 

[leslielbk]

I have a few black snakes too and I'm glad because they keep the rats down. That's a constant battle. Between me, the Jack Russell, the hawks, the owls and the snakes we do a pretty good job. Since I had to crawl around every square inch of the coop looking for "leaks" and close them off, I used 1/4-1/2" hardware cloth (that's what all the air vents are covered with so I have a lot of it around) and cut it to fit and stapled it to cover. And this isn't fun, but get down on your hands and knees with your face close to the ground and look for where the light comes in. Maybe wear a mask. I didn't, but I'm gross

 

[Flock of 8]

I have 3 ideas. Probably the electric fence. I have a spare, high powered fence charger. I don't think it would kill the snake, but it would deter it I am sure.

Electric fence circuit on the ramp far enough apart that only something as long as a snake could touch hot and ground.

live snake trap/cage

Feed it ceramic eggs. I assume that would kill it, but not very nicely.

 

[Flock of 8]

We use the ceramic eggs for the snakes. Once the egg is ingested, the egg will slowly move through its digestive track and this will obviously slow the snake’s escape. The snake will survive until the egg stops near the anus. That’s when I make an incision nearly the size of the egg and it pops out to be used again. I have also confirmed it doesn’t kill the snake, at least for the 3 days I had it caged before releasing it into a lush field a couple miles away. And it was sure excited to be free. If the egg is not removed, of course the egg thief will die, but someday you’ll also need to replace that ceramic egg. Love my flock of 8 hens.