Snakes!! 🐍 help!

[ChickenMama1018]

We recently turned an old well house into our new coop to accommodate more chickens and we found a huge black snake trying to get in the side of coop. It’s a black rat snake (common in Missouri and non venomous) but I know they like to eat eggs!
Any advice on how to keep them away?
thanks!

 

[AltonaAcres]

The snakes we have in our coop are kept both full and busy with mice. I am sure you could kill them if you had to, but I really like snakes and could never do that. we have enough hawks that they keep snake populations under control.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Our nesting boxes are also off the ground

 

[Chicken101-07]

Snakes can almost get everywhere,you could put concrete around the coop,this will stop predators and pests from digging a hole into your coop,I know snakes can't dig but other animals can and snakes only need small holes in order to go in,if you have a rooster,roosters tend to be noisy when they see a snake from my experience.

 

[hayley3]

I'd rather lose a few eggs and have the snake eating the mice. I bought a snake catcher so I could move the snake if I needed to...he was huge. Once I saw him on the roost and that kinda scared me but the chickens just ignored him.

 

[Al Gerhart]

The answer is in the name of the snake, rat snake, its primary prey brought it to the well house. Get rid of the rats and mice and the snake will leave and control rats elsewhere. Secure your feed with metal bins and a good treadle feeder and the snakes will leave in a few weeks.

 

[centrarchid]

I have resorted to relocating big ones. The big ones eat eggs and chicks. Smaller maybe focusing on rodents more.

To prevent consumption of hatching eggs I have been placing nests on top of 55-gallon barrels placed at least 3 feet from side of pen. One of these days a smart snake will drop in from pen cover. I will kill that one in short order.