Snake!!!

[5parrots&zoo]

Last night I went out to close my 6 hens in their coop, and was surprised to see 4 of them huddled in the corner by the entry gate. As I approached the coop, Eggsmerelda came flying out of the coop, cackling, then I knew something was up. There was a snake crawling along one of the roosts, towards Sunflower(Ameracauna). I picked up Sunflower from the roost, and put her outside. Then snake slithered on roost toward where Sunflower had been. Not sure what kind of snake it was, but very long and slender. It then crawled off roost, and settled down in corner of coop, figured that would not do, so dear hubby got out gun and shot it. I do not like idea of killing a creature that would not be poisonous, but girls were anxious to go to bed, and it was not an option to let them in coop with intruder. Besides, I do not think Nutmegg(RIR), Cloviss(RIR),Janella(SLW) and Peck(BPR) would have gone in there with that uninvited guest. So this morning my dear hubby patched up the hole that resulted from firing gun.

 

[RHRanch]

You should try to learn how to identify the snakes that live in your area. In the future you would be able to just remove a non-poisonous snake from your henhouse - maybe with a hook. A lot of the time snakes are actually in a coop trying to hunt rodents, as they can detect the temp and odors left by rats and mice. Many times people think the snake is after thier chickens or eggs when it is actually there to get rodents.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

lol no rat snake has ever gotten 10 foot and no rat snake can eat a full grown rir hen stop making up things please, the world record black rat snake is far below 10 feet.

I can promise you, you will not find a black rat snake longer than 6-7 feet in the wild today. 7 feet would be rare find.

Wikipedia says the largest black snake ever *recorded* was 101 inches long (8 ft, 5 in). Here in Va its pretty common to find a black snake over 7 ft long. Do I believe they can reach 10 ft, absolutely. Do I believe a 10 foot long black snake is the norm, no. But perhaps you should do a little more research before you accuse someone of making things up....

 

[Renegade Rescue]

We use the 20 ounce water bottles after they have been emptied let them dry out we keep the lids and drill a very small hole in the bottom of the bottle, then fill them a quarter of the way with mothballs and hang them a few inches off the ground about every ten feet around our coops. We shake them once a week to increase the scent, We use the water bottles so has not to have the mothballs sitting around where any animal can get to them has mothballs will kill anything that ingests them, usually we only have to fill them once a year. We also buy the mothballs from our dollar store has it is cheaper than the bigger chains.

 

[mulewagon]

It's good you got it - snakes will definitely eat eggs and chicks, and a few people have posted pics of dead hens with snakes wrapped around them. (The snakes were too small to eat the hens, but had crushed them anyway!)

Snakes are great out in the garden, or under the house, but in the chicken pen they're a menace. I've lost 21 chicks this year - now I catch mamas and babies every night to put them in a snake-proof cage.

 

[chi-rn]

Maybe you can get a snake hook for later... http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Hook-44...W5FA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1312148143&sr=8-3

 

[5parrots&zoo]

Thank you for the suggestion for the snake hook. I really do not like to kill a critter that is helpful(hunts mice or rats), but my chickens' welfare comes first. Love my girls!!!

 

[JeffJustJeff]

Eggsmerelda ....LOVE IT. Made me chuckle. My two 'creative chicken' names so far are Pecky Sue and Wyatt Chirp.

 

[hcppam]

Quote:
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[dufus]

you guys might have snakes trying to get rodents, the ones i've had have been after eggs and biddies. a ruger bearcat with ratshot will change their attitude somewhat, and makes them more agreeable with me. leave my peepers alone... ''SNAKES!!!! IT HAS TO BE SNAKES!!!''