Snakes!!

[12littlechicks]

I suffered from a snake this morning it got one of my pullets, could anyone tell me if something's to repel snakes and keep them out

 

[cooprunbuilder]

It all depends what snake it was really, a product called snake away or moth balls really.

 

[12littlechicks]

That what a women at my feedstore said but I believe it was a king snake my dad killed it and threw it in the woods before I could get a good look

 

[mtgrl]

This is just a theory, but I've read that snakes get tangled in duct tape. I'm thinking of putting duct tape sticky-side-out around the outside of my fence to prevent them from climbing over and getting in. The question is how to keep the tape sticky? A ledge jutting outward over the top might do the trick, and will also help to keep snakes from climbing in. Fences designed to keep snakes out are usually slippery-surfaced like plastic or metal and slanting outward at a 30 degree angle at least a foot (recommended 3 ft) above the ground. Snakes are pretty good climbers, and they can dig too, so it would be a good idea to bury a barrier underneath the fence. Personally, I haven't ever had problems with snakes, but I don't intend to now, so I'm opting to prevent an incident by building a sturdy hardware cloth fence with a half foot of screen at the bottom and some duct tape around the top of that. Theoretically, the snake will try to climb up the screen to get over and hit the duct tape and be trapped. I don't know how to keep the snake from digging under, so I'm hoping he'll try climbing first.

There's repellants you can buy, too, but you have to keep applying them over and over. http://www.imustgarden.com/snake-repellent-1-5lb-granular

Sometimes mothballs are suggested, but these are poisonous and can be hazardous and are actually illegal to use, not to mention they too have to be replaced constantly.

 

[Stiggy]

I don't know anything about snakes... ill confess that now but from seeing the things on here about snakes ive seen people using wire traps of roles of wire that have the ends stuck together so that the snakes go in but don't come out

 

[Pokerface]

Some may say I'm nuts for saying this but here it goes. According to an old Indian wives tale, if you will burn a snake where you kill it, no others will come there again. I've done it when we first moved onto my place 10 yrs ago and have not seen any in that area since.

 

[mtgrl]

Might be some truth to that. Could leave the scent of dead snake around.

You could make traps with PVC pipe with sticky duct tape inside too. That would keep the tape sticky.

 

[JuneM]

I'm a new chicken rancher, with 13 nearly 3-month-old chickens - 6 red hens and 7 silkies. We had chickens when I was a child, so I'm tuned into predator issues. I thought I had my coop very secure, but did not anticipate snakes small enough to get through one-inch chicken wire trying to eat something too large. I thought weasels and raccoons would be the most difficult issues. Within in the last 2 weeks I've lost 2 chickens to blacksnakes which strangled them but couldn't get them down due to size. Even though I am ecology-minded, and appreciate the balance of nature, I kill snakes that come in the coop. Today I caught a third snake targeting the group, and eliminated him. An ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure, so tomorrow I will reinforce my one-inch wire with hardware cloth. I'm getting too old for all this violence.

 

[Stiggy]

you need half inch hardwire. one inch is to big. if you get half inch then you can put it over top and make the holes even smaller. good on you for killing the snakes. good luck with your hens

 

[mtgrl]

I've heard guineas are good for getting rid of snakes. I was thinking about having one around, for that reason and to guard my quail...