Snakes eating my eggs :(

[Cordelia9]

In the last month I've removed two large eastern ratsnakes (Yeah, I looked them up to make sure they're not poisonous) from the nest boxes in my coop: both of them found after several days of very low egg counts. Caught the second one with an egg halfway into its mouth. Grr. I don't have anything against the snakes-- they keep the local rodent population down-- but I don't like competing with them for eggs. I took each of them for a long car ride, and I know they were not the same snake, as one was significantly larger. Spotted a decent-sized eastern gartersnake near (but not in) the coop more recently. Never had this problem last year, when the coop was out in the middle of the yard. But I moved it to the edge of the woods this year for the shade... and now I have snakes.

Is there any way to deter them? Is it the location? (I'd love to move them back out in the yard, but it was just too hot in the summer!) My birds are free-ranging, so hardware cloth isn't a viable solution. If you had a snake problem, how did you/didn't you solve it?

 

[dsbailey70]

Go to your feed store, or look online, for ceramic eggs. You can probably even get them in breed-correct colors. Some people also use wooden or plastic Easter eggs. Put a few of them in the problem areas. That will either deter the culprits, or kill them if they swallow one. I also kill any snake I find, with the exception of kingsnakes. There are plenty of predators (hawks, owls, foxes, etc) around to handle any rodents.