Snakes in Duck Barn

[Suedan]

That's not a Rat Snake, it's a Black Racer Snake and a much more nasty snake. They are aggressive. They aren't venomous but will bite and draw blood. There's a great video on Youtube with a boy and girl holding two side by side to show you how to identify them and it shows the difference in termperaments too. They can climb straight upward. I've seen one stand straight up on only the last inch a half of his tail. Bugger fell out of the CEILING when we renovated our farmhouse! My poor son caught him because he thought it was wire falling out of the ceiling. It was the widest awake I've ever been first thing on a Sunday morning, once that snake flew across the room! LMBO I saw a different 6 ft long Black Racer Snake going along the foundation of my children's music school. It started to explore a hole in some phywood covering a basement window, no bigger than a DIME! I wasn't worried because I didn't think it could get inside, till I realized it actually was! Had to go break the bad news to the maintenance guy that he better call somebody or possibly die of a heart attack... We have a TON of these Black racer Snakes in Missouri and their climbing ability is amazing. This is why I made my whole coop of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. If any get inside, hubby is going to be lining it with 1/8 inch LMBO!! Be careful you don't leave your run door open if you let birds outside or leave your coop door open. Saw that one owner had a snake get inside open coop door and poor birds got locked inside all night with the snake and traumatized....

By this picture with the goat, still a Black Racer?

 

[Coops Dad]

I have unfortunately read on this forum of rat snakes killing full grown chickens. The chickens were found with their heads wet and slimy, left dead in the coop because the snake couldn't swallow them. So while yes, the snake could kill your ducks, it probably takes a very motivated snake to try.

I lost three adult hens to a gopher snake in one night. I heard a commotion and went out to find him wrapped around the third hen with the hen's head and neck halfway down his gullet. He died.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Bet it's taking care of any mice hanging around.

Well so much for having snakes in the barn or coop, we had one in our house the other evening. A small ringneck was in our kitchen slithering across the floor. About 10" long so a young one. But still, I am not happy having snakes in my house.

 

[Spiase20]

I also had a incident where a rat snake tried to eat my duck and left it behind with a slimy neck and head. Since then, I have fortified my whole coop area into a fortress no snake can enter. If they are hungry enough, they will try to eat the ducks or chickens.