Snakes - Waaaaaay Too Many Snakes

[Ole rooster]

If you won't believe a snake will eat a golf ball, would you believe they will porcelain door knobs? I've seen my grandmother more than one time cut one out of a rat snake. That's what she used in the nest. But of course that was some 60 years ago and those were old chickens and old snakes. Bless their soul, the old timers didn't know any better. These modern know it alls have more technology to prove their point.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

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[Louieandthecrew]

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Choke to death? Are you serious? Do you even know anything about snakes? They don't choke to death. If a prey item is too big to swallow, they simply upchuck it and move on.
If you've seen these things, then surely you took a picture(s).

Actually, if the foot cannot be digested (like a golf ball) and it gets to far into their system for them to spit out them they will choke and die. This has happened to three snakes in my coop.

 

[9Catsz]

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Yes the foot can be digested. I've fed chicks and roosters to 100s of snakes over the years w/o one snake death...but plenty of snake poop and not one foot in the shyte either.

 

[Impress]

You can buy a spray that is made out of garlic, snakes HATE the smell of garlic, I live in the middle of snake infested fields, and once a month I spray my yard proper and around my coop with a garlic spray and we never see a snake. They smell it and go the other way.

 

[KandiandJerry]

I know one thing...after reading this whole thread....I will be putting out moth balls, getting some barn cats and guineas......If I went into the chicken coop and was face to face with a snake...I would have a heart attack....or someone would be cleaning me up...LOL

 

[Louieandthecrew]

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Haha, I'm glad this could help you, then!

 

[JK Farm]

Ok I found this post (it's a little old, I know) and I have a question.

Will snakes eat the actual chicken, or just the eggs? Someone here said that the mouse population is what the snakes will feed on. Does this mean that they won't bother the eggs? I ask because I have absolutely no problem with snakes being near (or even in, as long as they aren't poisonous) my chicken coop that will be built next spring. I love snakes.

I do, however, DETEST mice (God help me if I ever see a rat!).

Sadly, we have a wildly out of control mouse population. Hence the kitten that we bought to help keep them out of the house. But, since we live in the country, I know that I will never truly eradicate them. I would not have any problem at all with having a snake or two around to keep the mice in check. An outdoors cat is out of the question because our neighbor down the road confessed the first day we meant him to shooting every cat he sees, and I can't justify keeping a cat outside when I know that he will shoot on sight. So if the snake(s) are kept well-fed on mice, will they generally leave my chickens alone?

...as a side note, I have never kept chickens before and will be getting chicks next spring, so if this is a truly ridiculous question, just let me know...and let me know why. I will laugh at myself along with you so-long as I know why we're laughing.

 

[mulewagon]

We have a lot of mice around the chicken pen, but the snakes ate both eggs and chicks. Obviously they'll take a still/slow target over a fast-moving one.

It was utterly disastrous to my plans - they ate all the early chicks who would have been laying now. So I'm feeding older hens and a few young pullets through the winter, with very few eggs.

If you're getting chicks with snakes around, keep the chicks in something covered with hardware cloth every night until they can roost off the ground. I only saved some by putting them and their mama into a hardware cloth-covered cage every night.

 

[JK Farm]

Drats. Alright. So how on earth do I mouse-proof a homemade chicken tractor? I'm worried that there are going to be small gaps around the bottom that they'll slip through. The wheels are going to be built to slide up so that there isn't a gaping hole when it's sitting still, but I still think that there might be small holes that they'll be able to slip through. Is there anything that I can do to ensure that there aren't any?