Snakes - Waaaaaay Too Many Snakes

[chateaupollo]

Awesome insights, Scared of Shadows!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Correction, Snakes WILL eat golf balls....I have seen on more than one occassion myself....

 

[7L Farm]

Snakes will eat fake eggs.Here's a snake that ate one. You gotta realize that the chickens are sitting on the f

ake eggs so they do smell like chickens.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

huh, I guess ya'll just have some starving snakes - lol. I have a hard time getting snakes to eat something alive or freshly killed (like snakes that get a taste for lizards and trying to switch them to mice) and rubbing lizard smells all over a baby mouse - and the darn things won't take it. We tried the fake eggs/golfballs before, but I think empty space fakes would do a better job than something solid, or something porous as it would hold the scent better. We tried the fake eggs and the hens would barely sit on them, of course our hens always used the high boxes and never the low boxes where the rat snakes hung out when we had snake issues years ago.

hey, if it works it works. But the OP sounds like they don't have but 1 or 2 layers and the rest aren't laying yet, so the fakes won't do much good right now.



Still I'd rather have snakes in my pens than mice or rats. Mice and rats carry disease, and will eat eggs, chicks, and rats will kill grown hens - eating the crop and breast areas while the chicken sits there and lets it at night.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

**Before I answer everyone please know that I will be posting a picture of the coop and run at the bottom of the post.

ScaredOfShadows – I will move the food and water into the run and hope for the best. I have seen eggs in the snakes body in all but one (the one curled around the water container) and I have also seen golf balls in one. I’m NOT at all saying you’re wrong and I agree with you almost all the way, it’s just that I put the golf balls beside the eggs, they smell the eggs and eat both the eggs and the golf balls. I will see if it’ll be something that I can do to put the mothball things around the coop. Also, I haven’t seen any mice but I did pull an egg out of the laying box to see a hole in it that looked like a mouse had stuck it’s little paws in there and had been eating it. Also, our shed right next to the coop is where we keep the food and one time I did see a Warf Rat which are rats that are about two feet long from nose

Emvickry – That’s also a good idea to do with the mothballs and I may do that instead of what SOS said just because it would be easier.

PartridgeRooster post #8 – No, there are poisonous snakes of many kinds on our farm, but the only ones that bother us (mostly in the coop) are Black Rat Snakes, or, as we call them, Black Chicken Snakes.

ScaredOfShadows post #10 – I do not lock up the coop at night but I usually find the snakes in the afternoon, around 2-3pm. My RSL hen lays her eggs around 10am every morning.

Eggsessive post #11 – I’ll be sure to do that

Thank you

Gjensen post #12 – The problem about a snake free coop is that even if I close the coop door at night and open it in the mornings, the snake doesn’t come until later in the day and it stays until we get it out. If you see the picture at the bottom of this post then you can see that under the coop is a little open spot. Underneath the front of the coop, there is chicken wire to keep the chickens in, under the back, however, is only one line of electric wire which is only there to keep the dogs out from underneath the coop. The bottom of the coop is all wood except one part which, inside the coop, is where the roosts are. Under those roosts there is only chicken wire so that if the chicken poop while they’re inside, it falls down, to the under part of the coop which is concrete. I know I just explained the whole coop to you, but my point is that even if I close the coop door every single night the snake could still get in through the back and under the coop as long as he can fit through the chicken wire.

12304 post #13 – I’ll look into the minnow trap

Muggs post #16 – These snakes are not poisonous, and I’m sorry that I haven’t gotten the time until now to reply to all of these wonderful posts. I really don’t mind snakes at all, just like you, unless they catch me by surprise, which they have… a lot. I would just kick them out and let them be, but when they keep coming back they keep eating my eggs and I want them to stop that. They need to know that this is my coop, and those are my eggs.

Aggie post #19 – The thing about just shooing the snake away is I have tried that and it doesn’t work for me. They just come right back.

SoORchick post #20 – Thank you for taking the time in reading this

I’ve gotten some great advice so far!

SOS post #24 – Yes, I only have one layer right now, my RSL hen, but my four Buff Orpington hens will be laying soon.

*Everyone, I’m so sorry for the delayed response. Thank you all for your time on this thread and I hope you stay along on here until we resolve the problem. Give your opinion, or just read along and hope you can help

Thanks!

Now, here is my coop:
Coop and run -

Coop up close -

I hope this helps.

 

[bryan99705]

Look into minnow traps, another thread here has great sucess reports.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

Quote:
Okay

I'll be sure to do that!

 

[PartridgeRooster]

Wow, thats a real nice set up.

That chainlink fence won't keep out snakes, put fine netting around the base and see it that helps. I guess I have my dogs kill the snakes if I have a real issue.

 

[the4heathernsmom]

I am going to post the fish trap link in just a sec https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6560641
ok here it is.... very informative !!!!

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
this was my solution mostly I just keep the mice and rats gone and I do not have the snakes every now and then I relocate a black snake 100-200yards back to the ICW