Snakes Kill Chickens!

[CandJHens]

I know it is so frustrating and sad to lose a chick. We are just a year into having chickens and we've lost 3 to a fox and now a replacement chick to a snake. We bought some snake repellent which probably doesn't work, but it makes me feel a little better. We have fortified the coop as best we can, but it is still a worry. Every time I go out to see them, I worry...who is going to be gone today!

 

[Eggcessive]

We shot a 5 ft long black snake lying on a shelf in my big coop just yesterday. We have 3 and 5 week-olds in there with the large chickens, and they would surely have been killed. I wanted to remove the snake since we like black snakes on a farm for their rodent control, but my husband says that people get very nasty bites from trying to catch snakes. When they are in or next to the coop they die if we find them.

 

[HeatherEmme]

1/4" hardware cloth should help keep out snakes. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Sparrow]

The hardware cloth will keep out all snakes that are even remotely big enough to pose a threat to your birds.

 

[k2smama]

The hardware cloth will keep out all snakes that are even remotely big enough to pose a threat to your birds.

thanks so much for the help! I love my babies!

 

[Sandeno]

I just buried my beautiful cochin hen that I have raised for a year. It was Black with a bluish tint. So fat and so sweet. Earlier that morning I had seen a blacksnake eating the eggs in the coop. I have heard the same things about them being harmless and I also thought a trade of an egg or two was ok. I got a stick and laid the snake away from the coop. I even gave it two eggs thinking it would eat them and go away. The same afternoon I want back and my cochin was dead. It appears her neck was broken and she was in the area where she usually lays her eggs. She died protecting her eggs instead of running away. She had plenty of room to leave. I will now kill all snakes I see. I have learned a hard lesson.

 

[tenmob]

If her neck was broken, it likely wasn't a snake. Snakes don't break bones or etc.

 

[shmccarthy]

If her neck was broken, it likely wasn't a snake. Snakes don't break bones or etc.

I agree. If the neck was broken it was probably a different predator.

 

[CandJHens]

No the neck was not broken.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

I just buried my beautiful cochin hen that I have raised for a year. It was Black with a bluish tint. So fat and so sweet. Earlier that morning I had seen a blacksnake eating the eggs in the coop. I have heard the same things about them being harmless and I also thought a trade of an egg or two was ok. I got a stick and laid the snake away from the coop. I even gave it two eggs thinking it would eat them and go away. The same afternoon I want back and my cochin was dead. It appears her neck was broken and she was in the area where she usually lays her eggs. She died protecting her eggs instead of running away. She had plenty of room to leave. I will now kill all snakes I see. I have learned a hard lesson.

Sorry for your loss but allowing it to have eggs was a mistake. It learned where it can get food and will come back again and again