What about snakes?

[mominoz]

Since along with every other predator you could have in the N. Ga. Mtn. I know my neighbors have had king snakes, under their houses and there are copperheads and rattlesnakes around the area , rat snakes ,etc. Are they likely to try to get into a duck house at night?
Anybody had a problem with snakes?Course I guess I could sprinkle motheballs around, but they are pretty toxic, I save them to ward off the deer from my fruit trees and gardens....

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Any snake is "likely to get in a duck house"

King Snakes eat other snakes, so dont bother them at all.

Personally I'd kill any poisonous ones I found in my yard, and leave others alone since they will mostly kill rodents

 

[Faverolle]

Quote:
Some snakes like rat snakes "aka chicken snakes" may eat younger birds that were recently hatched but for the most part I would not worry much about them as they would generally be more of a benefit rather then a hazard. Also moth balls will probably not work with reptiles.

 

[flopshot]

something i discovered by accident last year. i set up a new garden area and used "deer fence" to protect it untill i had time for a proper fence. it's a plastic mesh with apx 3/4" square mesh pattern. the fence material trapped and killed three black snakes last season. normally i don't bother them or simply take them out into the woods away from the house but they have been raiding my bluebird houses lately so i felt a thinning of the heard was in order.

 

[racuda]

When I had chickens 20 years ago I had a problem with rat snakes. They were eating eggs, and one even swallowed a porcelain door knob that I was using for a nest egg.

Over the course of a week or so, I found a couple of hens dead, with their heads and necks looking "wet". I assumed that the snake tried to swallow them, but couldn't get past the neck.

I set a trap (a steel trap) and caught the culprit, a six foot long rat snake.

 

[Teach97]

Yup most snakes will gladly eat eggs and once they find a good source they will be back. Moth balls do work on snakes. They do make a type of mesh coil that will trap snakes very effectively I have seen it at outdoor shows but have had no luck finding a website...even the poisonous snakes serve a purpose and will keep rodent pops down...

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
I agree, we get copperheads and rattlesnakes around here. they get the axe. but the others I pretty much let go.

Last summer one corn snake went into our feed house, we were having a major mouse problem. within about 3 days there wasn't mouse one in there. If it is still in there it can stay as long as it wants.

Steve in NC

 

[swampwander]

Snakes can go either way here. They either go after the eggs, primarily, or the chickens eat them!! Don't know how many times I've walked out to see the flock chasing one hen with a garter in it's beak!

 

[sandypaws]

.NO.. not all snakes eat eggs.."most" snake have to specialize in it... rat snakes might take an egg if nothing else is around ... i would not mind loosing an egg or two if the snake eats all the rodents in the coop while he's there..

king snakes VERY GOOD snakes to have around.. if you have a live-in KING, you wont have the "bad" snakes.. if a rattlesnake even SMELLS a king nearby it will turn and go the other way.. KEEP the KINGS!!! kings specialize in eating other snakes (and lizards) they should not bother your chickens and they will NOT eat the eggs

snakes will go into the coop looking for rodents and warmth... might eat baby chicks , if mama is not watching them closely enough..
snakes usually will not kill what they can not consume...
most chickens will kill and eat snakes..

i have personally seen my guinea hens form a line and mob a 5 foot coachwhip untill it left the yard...

 

[swampwander]

Here in the SE our commonest snakes are rat snakes. And, they eat eggs of all birds, not just chickens. I've done research with listed bird species where we encountered lumpy rat snakes in Wood Stork nests and Florida Scrub-jay nests.

From growing up in the Mojave, your worst snake predator would be a bull snake. I had a four footer as a pet and it would take chickens.

And, that's darned funny about the coachwhip.