What about snakes?

[Faverolle]

Quote:
Your somewhat correct BUT most kingsnakes tend to eat 'warm blooded" prey more so then "cold blooded prey" with the exception of some western U.S. members of the genus like the grey banded king. I would not worry about them really bothering any chickens although just like many other snakes may capitalize on an unsuspecting chick,egg, etc if given the chance. It's great your keeping snakes though. I was one of the largest breeders in the U.S. back in the 80's and 90's before the days of the internet and their popularity.
Matt

 

[sandypaws]

wow.. really, what species?? the 3 types i have had all are "snake eaters" and you have to TRICK them into eating warm blooded creatures...
i have...
lampropeltis getula californiae,, cal king lavender
lampropeltis mexicana,, thayeri and mexmex..
the breeder of greyband i know is always having trouble getting the babies to eat, and usually has to force feed scented mouse tails to them..
i guess different people have different experiences

 

[Faverolle]

Quote:
Looks like your in prime Cal king territory!!! Most of the grey bands I had needed to be " tricked" into eating mice or parts there of when they first hatched. I used to keep most of the Lamrpopeltis sp., as well as elaphe "rat snakes", quite a few different types of boas and pythons.

At one time I was breeding over 110 different species/color morphs of snakes and had over 400 adult animals. This was back in the day when an albino cal king was around $1,200, not 12.00 like now if that gives you idea on how long ago were talking about.Now I have mostly ball pythons and a couple of the rarer boa species and the number is around 60 or so. I still love the rat and kingsnakes and have a few but nothing like before and since the wife hates snakes, well need I say more.

 

[Debi214]

Quote:
It is also very sad when people lose their birds. Not everyone thinks snakes are cute, and if they choose to dispose of them, who are we to judge?

Information is great for those who want it, insinuating that we are not learning because we do things differently than you is uncalled for.

Agreed!

 

[Debi214]

King snakes must be like opossums - they only eat eggs unless they are really starving but people kill em anyway.

 

[Poohbear]

Only critter on earth that scared me so bad I jumped BACKWARD over a chicken pen. 2 foot Copperhead had killed a chick and I bent down to see why the chick was dead, didn't see the Copperhead till he drawed back! WOW, I coulda won some kinda medal for THAT jump!

.

 

[mistylady]

Snakes are fine out of the coop and away from the house. They have over 19,000 acres of wildlife preserve that surrounds us plus our acreage so they aren't forced into the coop to look for food. We don't make them suffer a slow death. Its quick; they don't suffer like other methods of snake removal mentioned. Probably a faster way to die than my baby chicks would die in a snakes belly. And we originally tried removing snakes from the area and they just came back the next afternoon. They have the fields, the stream, the lake, the woods, the barns and the garage ..... the house area especially where the coop is I claim. Our closest neighbor is almost a mile away (straight line) and they have over a 100 acres of woods, ponds and snake friendly areas. We have more wildlife than people here.

Also raccoons, foxes, possums and anything else that will eat my chickens are killed. They also eat mice and frogs and bugs but they are not going to eat my chickens without a fight. All wildlife has a right to live but so do my chickens.

 

[Ewing Farms]

A note to be very careful-
Col was bitten by a Rattle Snake on the way out of the Chicken Coop. Right ankle about 4 inches up.
She lost her ability to speak in 22 min. and was suffering from labored breathing within 30 Min.
8 Doses of anti-venom, 2 days in ICU, 1 Doctor ($285.00) who came in for 5 Min to tell her that she would not loose her toes, and 6 months to walk properly.. and still has swelling and such 18 Months later.
Chickens=food=rats=snakes-

 

[hippichick]

I just asked this question on another thread, didn't see this thread about snakes. I am thinking about getting guineas, because I've had a problem recently with snakes. How many guineas would I need to keep snakes away. Would 2 or 3 do?

Paula

 

[Faverolle]

Quote:
What kind of rattlesnake was it?