Snake

[cherrynberry]

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.

Yeah, snakes are something else. Good thing is that I only ever seen 3 snakes. Hopefully it stays that way. We never lost any birds due to snakes either, but we do have a hawk and vulture problem here. Chickens have so many predators...its hard as their owners...

 

[pennyJo1960]

That is tough to do just have to rid them as you find them
Good luck

 

[McChooky]

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

I laid netting over my runs to keep out the snakes and aerial predators.You could probably buy a huge piece and attach it to the sides of yours and keep most of the big ones out.Minnow traps work too.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Sheesh, that had to be terrifying to see on the camera reviewing film. Hope you have a good game plan and so sorry for your losses.

 

[McChooky]

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

Jack Russells are awesome!

 

[KCasey]

I caught a snake that has been taking eggs for 3 yrs. He had finally grown too big and was taking too many eggs and crushing the others. My hens were stressed cause he would sleep in the tray the eggs roll into from the nesting boxes and had slowed down their laying. This is a video to make a super easy snake trap out of a box. I cut the bottom out of a round bread crumb container to make the entrance. I let the snake go in open space about a mile from my house. I didn’t put windows in my trap and just used duct tape to secure tube.

 

[McChooky]

I caught a snake that has been taking eggs for 3 yrs. He had finally grown too big and was taking too many eggs and crushing the others. My hens were stressed cause he would sleep in the tray the eggs roll into from the nesting boxes and had slowed down their laying. This is a video to make a super easy snake trap out of a box. I cut the bottom out of a round bread crumb container to make the entrance. I let the snake go in open space about a mile from my house. I didn’t put windows in my trap and just used duct tape to secure tube.

I've never killed any snakes here but venomous ones in the 6 years I've lived here.It'll be 7 in January..One was a copperhead by our steps a couple years ago and a spitting viper that got in the catio with my kittens and could have killed them.I poked it with a stick and pulled it out and threw it out on the ground thinking it was dead .I'm guessing it probably died from its injuries and something ate it but spitting vipers play dead.I didn't have a clue what it was at the time but it looked like a cobra and was hissing and spitting.They have fangs in the back of their mouth not the front .Their venom paralyses a frog which is what they typically live on in the wild.I took my pond down after they set up residency here so now they're gone.

 

[goldenyears]

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

Lowe’s in my area has 1/2” x 3’x25’ hardware cloth on sale for $12. I bought 8 more rolls than I needed…

 

[Shaleen Ann Brown]

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.

Even I had this problem.... The chicken food attracted rats who dug holes through which snakes could come(lost 2 chickens) ...... Now I remove the food at night..... During the day someone is always there so it is fine.

 

[Clucktown]

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.

That is completely false. We had a rat snake kill 2 of our hens when my mother-in-law locked it in the coop overnight. The snake kills by acting as a constrictor then tries to swallow them starting with the head. Because it cannot get past the shoulders, it moved on to it's second kill. Both hens were found with the tell tale slimy, wet heads and necks. My kids and I were devastated. There are plenty of postings with similar stories. I, too, once thought they were harmless, but no more!