Snakes Alive !!!

[tony garza]

Hi,

I have a bunch of feathered critters - chickens (both standard and bantam), ducks, turkeys, ringneck dove, pheasants and peafowl in about 17 pens. I have BADs - big aspiring dogs, anatolyn, great pyranese, border collies and aussies - they guard the place from 2 and 4 legged predators. But my biggest problem has been snakes. After killing 21 rattlesnakes around the house and barn in the last few years, I think I've pretty well taken care of those. But I did kill a small rattler a few weeks ago next to one of the pens. The problem is with chicken snakes or whatever you call them. They're from 4 to 6 feet long. I've seen them take off with a chick in its mouth. I free range my black sweds and two hens had built a couple of nests in the high grass next to the stock trailer. A few days ago, my great pyranese came up with what seemed like egg yolk on its back. I found one of the next had been disturbed and the eggs scattered and broken and some missing. I had counted the eggs. I scolded the dog and found the other hen's nest. I put a 4X4 cage around her to keep her safe. Last night my wife heard a commotion and I went to check. Big snake was in with the hen and taking off with an egg in its mouth. Of course, no gun on me. She never went back to the nest. I put the remaining eggs in the incubator, but I think they were left outside too long. I'd bet that the snake was the culprit in the first duck hen's nest busting.

My question - What do you all do about snakes ??????????? Any advice.

Thanks for your replies,

Tony

 

[Happycheese]

I'm a snake breeder, maybe I can help? Definitely don't waste your time on any of those electronic or chemical repellent products, because they 100% don't work. What you need to do is make your property uninviting to snakes. Mow often and remove piles of rubbish, bushes, etc. snakes don't like to move across open ground. make sure you don't have anything in the area that attracts mice or rats.
Get some fruit tree netting, and lay it on the ground. Blouse it up a bit. The idea is that the snakes will crawl through it, and be caught. They cannot go backwards. Stake it down with a couple of tent pegs etc. Put it outside the area where your animals are.
For extra precaution, they hate the smell of moth balls. So you could put some in a box with holes? I don't know if fowl would eat moth balls anyway.

Also, I'm 100% against the killing of snakes that are just doing what comes naturally to them. If these species go extinct, we will literally be up to our eyeballs in rats and mice and frogs. Talk to a snake catcher that's licensed to deal with native and venomous species.

 

[AngieChick]

Hi there, you may have better luck posting this in the Pests and Predators section. If you ask a mod, they will probably move it for you.

Good luck!

 

[cattlemen]

hi, i have problems with chicken snakes and water moccasins and only one thing keeps them out of my pens with a setting hen or chicks and that is wire so small they cannot fit through it.....i use hardware cloth......i had used the smallest chicken wire till some raccoons were able to reach in and panic and kill all my young white guinea keets one night. i have killed about 6 snakes so far in my hen houses this spring.i know they have a purpose but when eating eggs and killing chickens you have little choice. good luck!

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Quote:
What he said works, and other's in the predators and pests have tried it and found it effective. Keep the grass short and the property clear. You should see a big difference.

 

[OmaBird]

I live in snake land but I normaly do not see many. I have been putting sod in for the ducks and geese. We don't live where there is grass. It seems this sod is atracting snakes. Two days in a row, I have had snakes come to visit. Yesterdays snake was next to my turkeys and their water pan. Then it ran off into my grass and disapeared.