Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[cheeka]

i'm so sorry... it's only non-chicken folk who don't understand how tragic it is to lose a chook... hopefully your neighbor will make doubly sure that gates are closed tightly!

 

[okallthis4eggs]

this is my new enclosure, exposed skirting will be covered with chunks of maple tree trunk, just wanted to show there is 14" of skirting around the entire dome. the coop is completely sealed to the dome, hardware cloth is actually threaded into the seams of the coop and bolted in place. for seven birds, it's quite large. it's 14.5'L x 12'W x 5.25'H, with a coop on each diagonal corner, you just can't see the other coop in this shot... more roosts will be installed in the enclosure... they will "live" here, and i still have the 8'L x 8'W x 4.5'H portable run to give them fresh grass and bugs.
This has been constructed in Memory of Barney and Lily, and to make sure the fox doesn't get any more free meals at my house!

WOW...you are serious about not losing any more chickens. Built with hardware cloth!!!!. Love the skirt at the bottom so predators can't dig under. Great job.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

i'm so sorry... it's only non-chicken folk who don't understand how tragic it is to lose a chook... hopefully your neighbor will make doubly sure that gates are closed tightly!

Thanks Cheeka!
And, I am quite impressed with your new run!!!

 

[cheeka]

thanks Sunflowergirl! it was a spark of an idea that quickly turned into a monster that HAD to be conquered! so worth it!

 

[okallthis4eggs]

So what is he after? Eggs or mice? Both? And your guess as to what kind of snake it is. Found this visitor outside my chicken hotel this week

 

[RedIII]

4eggs, I would guess that he's probably after both mice and eggs, but if you have any young chicks, he might go for those, as well. Eep!

 

[cheeka]

it sort of does, but doesn't exactly look like a black rat snake... at the zoo, they are fed mice, chicks and rats
it's enough to give one the total creeps

 

[LightningTFarm]

So what is he after? Eggs or mice? Both? And your guess as to what kind of snake it is. Found this visitor outside my chicken hotel this week

I am raising a small flock of Welsh Harlequins, my first foray into ducks. They are now 11 weeks old. I have lost four ducks so far, all to chicken snakes. I managed to kill three of the snakes, while one got away despite my whanging it repeatedly with a shovel.

I lost three ducklings the first night I put them out in the duck house! The snake was still in there when I opened the door, as it had managed to come in a small crack in the door to the outside pen, but after it ate a duckling it couldn't fit through the crack to get out. Two more were dead in a corner, I suspect from suffocating at the bottom of a pile of frantic ducklings. It couldn't move fast enough to get away from the shovel with a duckling-shaped lump in its middle, so it will never eat another duck! I fixed that crack, then about a week later I went out about sunset and all the ducks were sitting outside in the run, and I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, I opened the door to their house and a snake was lying in wait, hoping for a duck dinner. I went after it with a shovel, but it escaped. It had managed to get through the chicken wire of the run and went into the house through the duck door and just waited. A week or so after that, I came out one afternoon and again the ducks were outside, but I did a quick count and knew I was missing one. I opened the duck house and there was a snake in there just in the process of swallowing the head of my poor duckling. I dispatched it with my trusty shovel. After that I went a few weeks with no snake problems, and figured the ducks were now too big for a snake to try to eat them. I thought I didn't have to worry about chicken snakes again till they started laying, when the snakes would go after the eggs. But, just last week I went out later than usual to let the ducks out into the run, and I could hear them fussing like crazy in their house. This is very unusual, as they normally are very quiet until they hear me saying good morning. As I got to the door, I saw the tail of a snake as one was trying to get into the house through a crack at the bottom of the door. I stepped on the tail so it couldn't get any further in, and it tried for a while but finally backed out. With my feet on the snake I couldn't get to my trusty shovel, so I had to call my dad on my cell phone to come out and help me. He's 87 but really spry, and he plys mean shovel! Needless to say, I fixed the bottom of the door so not so much as a garter snake can get in there now. My dad and I built this coop and run for chickens originally, when I was on maternity leave twenty years ago. They used it for chickens, and then had a cow dog living in it for a few years, and then it just sat empty. I worked hard to rehab it and thought I had closed up any crack big enough for a snake to get in, but I have to tell you those things can get into the tiniest of cracks!

Did I mention that I really hate snakes? I know that chicken snakes eat a lot of rats and mice, and all that, but once it tries to get after my ducks it is dead meat!!!

Before they start to lay I am going to replace the chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth, which should keep the snakes out. Under that is some cyclone fencing, which should keep out the larger, more determined predators like bobcats, foxes, coyotes, dogs, raccoons, etc. Lots of predators in rural East Texas. I would love to let them wander around, but yesterday I saw a pair of hawks circling overhead, so now I have that to worry about.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

I am raising a small flock of Welsh Harlequins, my first foray into ducks. They are now 11 weeks old. I have lost four ducks so far, all to chicken snakes. I managed to kill three of the snakes, while one got away despite my whanging it repeatedly with a shovel.

I lost three ducklings the first night I put them out in the duck house! The snake was still in there when I opened the door, as it had managed to come in a small crack in the door to the outside pen, but after it ate a duckling it couldn't fit through the crack to get out. Two more were dead in a corner, I suspect from suffocating at the bottom of a pile of frantic ducklings. It couldn't move fast enough to get away from the shovel with a duckling-shaped lump in its middle, so it will never eat another duck! I fixed that crack, then about a week later I went out about sunset and all the ducks were sitting outside in the run, and I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, I opened the door to their house and a snake was lying in wait, hoping for a duck dinner. I went after it with a shovel, but it escaped. It had managed to get through the chicken wire of the run and went into the house through the duck door and just waited. A week or so after that, I came out one afternoon and again the ducks were outside, but I did a quick count and knew I was missing one. I opened the duck house and there was a snake in there just in the process of swallowing the head of my poor duckling. I dispatched it with my trusty shovel. After that I went a few weeks with no snake problems, and figured the ducks were now too big for a snake to try to eat them. I thought I didn't have to worry about chicken snakes again till they started laying, when the snakes would go after the eggs. But, just last week I went out later than usual to let the ducks out into the run, and I could hear them fussing like crazy in their house. This is very unusual, as they normally are very quiet until they hear me saying good morning. As I got to the door, I saw the tail of a snake as one was trying to get into the house through a crack at the bottom of the door. I stepped on the tail so it couldn't get any further in, and it tried for a while but finally backed out. With my feet on the snake I couldn't get to my trusty shovel, so I had to call my dad on my cell phone to come out and help me. He's 87 but really spry, and he plys mean shovel! Needless to say, I fixed the bottom of the door so not so much as a garter snake can get in there now. My dad and I built this coop and run for chickens originally, when I was on maternity leave twenty years ago. They used it for chickens, and then had a cow dog living in it for a few years, and then it just sat empty. I worked hard to rehab it and thought I had closed up any crack big enough for a snake to get in, but I have to tell you those things can get into the tiniest of cracks!

Did I mention that I really hate snakes? I know that chicken snakes eat a lot of rats and mice, and all that, but once it tries to get after my ducks it is dead meat!!!

Before they start to lay I am going to replace the chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth, which should keep the snakes out. Under that is some cyclone fencing, which should keep out the larger, more determined predators like bobcats, foxes, coyotes, dogs, raccoons, etc. Lots of predators in rural East Texas. I would love to let them wander around, but yesterday I saw a pair of hawks circling overhead, so now I have that to worry about.

So you think its a "chicken snake". I never heard of that kind of snake but that don't mean anything.

 

[cheeka]

LightningTFarm
the 1/2" hardware cloth is so good, it's not the easiest stuff to work with in long lengths, but it's easy to customize and makes excellent skirting... my portable run is chain link and has hardware cloth wrapped around the bottom 2.5', and folded out for a skirt, not as long as what i have in my enclosure, but sufficient, and it doesn't get in the way or twist down... when i need to move it. it's so much better than chicken wire that can be ripped open by raccoon and too small for much of anything to fit through that at least chickens won't peck to death, i don't know anything about ducks tho'... chickens will eat rodents and small snakes...
I know everyone here understands how terrible it is to lose members of our feathered family, and are here to help with suggestions and photos of what we've tried... i have decided that security is ever so much more important than aesthetics, and have wrapped everything up tight with the stuff. i still have to wrap a layer around the attached coop to the enclosure, there is a 1/4" gap on one side because the land is uneven. i do have copperheads, but have rarely seen any larger than 12" and the cats take care of those, i have seen one that was close to 4', which for a copperhead is HUGE... i have lots and lots of garter snakes, and since my fabulous Pearl Tiger Tabby died, i'm overrun with chipmunks, but they don't seem to be interested in digging around the enclosure.
Hawks, Eagles, Ravens, Fox, Coyote, coy dogs, neighborhood dogs, feral cats, bob cats, weasel, raccoon and the occasional bear is what we contend with in the Catskills of Upstate NY... of course we have rodents and snakes.... but my remaining cats do make a big difference with those...
I loved hearing about your Dad! he's quite the hero! my Dad is 80 and also very spry, but he lives in Denver, 2000 miles away