Snake

[McChooky]

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

We only have 2 options: let them eat all the feed,chicks, eggs and chickens or patch holes.

 

[McChooky]

Have you ever tried snake soup? Or scorpion?
BoView attachment 2797149

NOT!

 

[leslielbk]

I'm glad my neighbors can't see me crawling around on my hands and knees looking for the tiniest holes. While I try hard to keep it from looking like it was done by Jed Clampett unfortunately I've missed the mark. I had good intentions in the beginning and it looked really cute and then emergencies set in and all that went out the window.

 

[McChooky]

This is what I am trying. Stuff I had laying around. Ground is insulated from actual ground, so a creature has to contact both bars. It should be a good jolt.

Clever idea!

 

[McChooky]

I'm glad my neighbors can't see me crawling around on my hands and knees looking for the tiniest holes. While I try hard to keep it from looking like it was done by Jed Clampett unfortunately I've missed the mark. I had good intentions in the beginning and it looked really cute and then emergencies set in and all that went out the window.

I can relate!LOL

 

[LRedHen]

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.

Wouldn’t hardware cloth be small enough to keep out a snake?

 

[neo71665]

Wouldn’t hardware cloth be small enough to keep out a snake?

It does but gets expensive covering the whole run in the stuff. Snakes can climb up the stuff.

 

[cherrynberry]

It does but gets expensive covering the whole run in the stuff. Snakes can climb up the stuff.

Yeah, it is expensive, but I feel like it looks a whole lot better than chicken wire. And a lot safer. Its hard to work with as well, but it lasts quite a few years.

 

[neo71665]

Yeah, it is expensive, but I feel like it looks a whole lot better than chicken wire. And a lot safer. Its hard to work with as well, but it lasts quite a few years.

My uncovered run is vinyl coated chicken wire. That stuff lasts forever and is a bit more heavy duty compared to the bare stuff. My covered run is chain link covered with hardware cloth.

 

[tsperry88]

My run is 21x28. It's fairly secure, but snakes are just something I can't keep out. Preventing them from getting into the coop is my best hope.