Snakes?

[Shblack]

We seemed to be plagued by snakes, usually it’s grey rat snakes getting after the eggs. I have taken to leaving golf balls in the nesting boxes, when the balls start disappearing time to watch for snakes. Had a barred rock that had gone really broody, one afternoon I found her dead in the coop. Her head & neck were all slimed up, comb was mashed down. My best guess is a snake killed her, tried to swallow her and realized she was way too big. I wonder if she was trying to protect her eggs and pecked at the snake? Not sure what kind of snake it was, but two weeks later I caught the biggest rattlesnake I have ever seen trying to get into the coop. What are others experiencing with snakes and chickens?

 

[sloanbychoice]

Omgosh! That’s terrible. I’m sorry about your barred rock!!
We have a lot of snakes here, but so far the only one that hangs out in the coop is Charlie, a little king snake. He eats the mice. Too small to eat eggs yet.

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

We have electric fence (10 strands covering a 5.5 foot fence) around our coop to keep the predators out...including snakes. Last weekend I was in the kitchen and heard the tell tell "POP POP POP" of something touching the hot wires. My husband went out to see what it was and found a huge black snake laying next to the fence, he was stunned and laid there for about 30 minutes before he could slither off.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rodents leave trails of urine and feces as they travel around. Snakes and birds of prey can easily see or smell these trails and they follow the rodents looking for their dinner. Once in the coop they will of course eat eggs.

First order of business is to make sure no rodents are coming around the coop. Bulk feed in metal barrels and a proper treadle feeder that is actually rat proof which excludes the majority of treadle feederss.