Snakes - Waaaaaay Too Many Snakes

[PindziaFarms]

Rather than using all kinds of elaborate mechanical and/or chemical deterrants, you could try a natural approach and introduce a natural snake predator....Guineas are GREAT for removing snakes and bugs. JMHO

 

[dufus]

i've had the misfortune of being visited by 5 chicken snakes so far this year. the first one, i threw out with a sharp=shooter shovel, through the external doors on my egg boxes. the next 4 i shot with a ruger bearcat with .22 bird shot. my pen is 16'x20' with half galvanized tin walls and roof, the rest is chicken wire with 26 gauge roofing steel laid on it's side [ 37'' high ] all the way around, except for a 10' section in the front where the entrance door is. i installed 1/2 hardware cloth over this, and the door, and there is absolutely not any way even a mouse can get in with the door closed. since it's gotten so hot, i let the girls out every day in the morning, and leave the door propped open during the day, so they can go back inside and lay. this HAS to be how the snakes are getting in, through the open door, during the day. i have 10 pressure treated egg boxes, approx. 3' high, with external egg-gathering doors on the outside. open a door,, and there a chicken snake is,, laying up in the egg box. i'm not fooling with them any more,, if i find one in my egg boxes,,, he is a shot snake. i have a cat to take care of rats and mice, and as i live in the country, there will be plenty of them everywhere, snakes or not. i watched my chickens pecking at something saturday and walked over, it was a 12'' copperhead, and i whacked it with a stick---but--- this means a batch has just hatched out somewhere beside my yard, after reading this thread i will get 4-5 of the minnow traps and lay them around. i don't quite get the concept of baiting those with eggs, as a small copperhead can't eat the egg anyway,,, can they????

 

[effie]

Quote:
I think they got the copperheads just by putting the traps around the bottom of the walls and they were in the snakes path. They kinda buried them halfway into the dirt. Yea, they would be too small for the eggs. I just wouldn't want to deal with it even then

 

[mulewagon]

Quote:
According to a snake researcher who posted on another thread, the eggs aren't necessary - just put the traps against the wall, where the snakes like to crawl, and they'll go inside (If they'll fit - we killed one yesterday that looked big enough to swallow a grown hen!)

 

[chicksagogo]

About putting the feeder outside, I cannot picture this? Does the food get emptied out at the end of the day so that critters don't come around at night? Or is the feeder enclosed somehow and protected from the rain and weather? Please clarify this as I have a serious mice problem and find them in the feeder if I walk in at night. It grosses me out and I imagine the chickens, though watching from their roosts, don't find the food terribly appealing after a mouse has pooped in it. Can someone please advise me on how to construct an outside feeder. So far no snakes, but I imagine it could just be a matter of time! yikes!
thanks,
chicksagogo

 

[mulewagon]

Quote:
I keep my feeder out in the pen. We made a framework of landscape timbers and roofed it (in our case, with an old camper shell). The feeder hangs from the roof, and the feed cans sit on a pallet under the roof.

I never see any mouse poop inside the feeder, though I know they'll eat it off the ground. So I lace the feed with cayenne pepper, to enhance their dining experience (it doesn't bother chickens).

There are several reasons for having the feeder outside the coop: not attracting rats where the eggs are, keeping feed off the dirt floor, reducing the amount of spilled feed that gets mixed with chicken poop, and not being in tight quarters with the roosters while I fill the feeder.

 

[Kitty Cat]

The golf balls work wonderfully. If a chicken gets bit it may have some nerve damage from the bite depending on what kind of snake it is but with a little TLC they come back pretty quick but can have problems for the rest of their lives. I found St. Johns Wort helps my hen who got bit. If you look at my post for Tube Feeding the mixture is on there. It works well. She went from not being able to walk to walking with a slight limp.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

Quote:
Thanks! That sounds like it really works! What would happen if the chickens got into it though? That's my only concern.


PS. I'll be reading more posts and posting the responses after reading.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

Quote:

@everyone: I have not seen any snakes this month and we've been getting a bunch of eggs! You have all put out great ideas and I'd love for you to keep putting out more not for me, but for other people with snake problems just like mine. Thank you all for your help and I'll keep you updated! In the meantime, keep on giving out ideas and strategies!

 

[tarheelnm]

I'm in New Mexico ( a transplanted and very homesick tarheel), and rattlesnakes abound here. I once crawled into the coop where someone insisted on laying eggs, and came face to face with a 4 ft. rattler. I haven't seen any snakes lately, but a neighbor shot a big one the other night. We also have coyotes, but roadrunners are the worst predators. They killed two of my hens last year. Roadrunners are adorable, but when I see them I throw rocks at them. I got some snake away but it's very expensive and people around here say to use the mothballs.