Tonight when I went to put the chickens to bed I discovered a very large rat snake in the favorite nest box. Unfortunately when I dumped him out the girls thought I was throwing him at them and it took a lot of convincing to get them back in their coop. What to do? I suspect the snake has been eating eggs and knows where to find them, but he also may be responsible for the lack of rodents in the barn... What would you do?
Help - snake!
I can tell you for sure what I wouldn't do!!! I would not just dump him out. We don't have rat snakes here so I don't know much about them. but anything that will eat eggs will also eat baby chicks.
You speak of rodents! what kind of rodents are there around there? Mature chickens will kill mice on their own. What else do you have? I am asking as I have never run into that problem. Good luck Haystack
I agree Hatstack.. i would relocate that snake to a different county or to the neverland..its not a good thing for them to be with the chickens..
good luck
cindy
We eliminate them. We live in a very wooded area and see several a year. Several have eaten eggs and one ate 2 baby chicks and scalped another.
Until recently we had a problem with copperheads in the barn. I discovered that if I eliminated the rats (poison) the copperheads would move out. Since the rat snake(s) has (have) been around, there have been no rats or copperheads so I'm reluctant to move him out. Perhaps if I collect the eggs more often, he'll get discouraged(?) We have no baby chicks nor do we plan to have, and the coops, once closed for the night , are snake-proof. How many eggs can a snake eat a day?
We had a snake consume 4 out of 6 eggs in one sitting and probably would have eaten the other two had we not caught him having his last meal.
I think, if you can find a way to live with him, I'd let him stay....but that does mean you have no baby chicks and can spare a few eggs.
Around here the agricultural workers always kill the snakes they find in the field--but the snakes are almost always gopher snakes (which help with our terrible ground squirrel, gopher and mole problems)) or king snakes (which kill and eat rattlesnakes). I would love it have a house snake--but the dogs wouldn't allow it. We had a terrible problem with mice and then rats a few years ago and finally had to resort to poison--which is very scary in a house full of pets.
I wish I had a few snakes here! I like them and we have voles and gophers.. not real close, but still a problem.
I imagine it would be kind of a pain to race the snake to the eggs every day!
Rodents are worse than snakes. I'd keep the snake. But then, I love snakes. They are useful creatures.
I don't love snakes, but rat snakes are better than copperheads. I'll just pick up eggs more often. There are enough to share a few.
A few years ago my little granddaughter went out to gather the eggs and came back saying "I am NOT going in there until somebody gets that SNAKE out!" We ran out and sure enough, there was a gopher snake in one of the chicken nests. He had a huge lump in the middle of his stomach and looked so funny we took a picture of him. Then we let him go, I figured we'd never miss an egg every day or so. Later, though, we found the snake dead -- the lump still in his middle. Turned out that he had swallowed one of the plastic eggs we had put in there to encourage the hens to start laying and it would not digest.
I felt so bad.
Yes, definitely rat snakes are preferred to copperheads!
I ran over a garter snake yesterday while mowing - didn't realize it until later because I saw a garter slithering away and stopped so it could get under a bush. Didn't realize there was a second until later when I saw the dog sniffing at something. I felt bad. We have so many garter snakes this year - anyone snake phobic would be having a hard time.
Porkpal,put out some Sulpher.It helps keep them away.I had a snake trying to get to my baby ducks about almost two weeks ago.I killed the booger,but try and put that stuff out.I heard it keeps them away.
Cody
Thanks, Cody, I'll give the sulpher a try. I'm not too keen on finding snakes where I'm looking for eggs!
Snakes - Moth balls keep them away also. We have snakes & I keep moth balls around the chicken coop & around the pool area. They hate the smell & my mom hates the snakes so rather than kill every snake around i use the moth balls. Place them every 6 to 8 inches around the perimeter of the area you want the snakes to stay out of.
Speaking of snakes.. went out to work on putting a saltwater generator on my pool last night. My niece was texting her bf & not watching where she was walking I grabbed her arm as she nearly stepped in the middle of a bull snake (according to my brothers), missouri rattler (according to the old man next door). Idk what it was but they heard us across the street screaming. It was crossing the yard, sliding around my chickens & baby chicks not paying a bit of attention to them. My grandpa said it was eating the toads we have instead of my chicks. :) a whole box of moth balls was thrown out immediately in places the chickens won't get them bc Idk if they will harm chickens. IF i find a snake in the nest box.. that will be the end of that style nesting box. They will have a wooden box with an open top from that point forward & I'll probably be putting the door back on the coop from tearing it off the hinges trying to get out of there.
Voles - get blood meal.. pour is around 3 sides of your yard & HALF way across the other side part way into the yard.. every few days pour some in such a way as to slowly push the voles thru the "opening" you left. They hate blood meal & will run from it. An old nursery owner here in town told us this & within 2 weeks the voles were gone. Unfortunately for my neighbors I ran them right into their field & had to explain the blood meal fix for them. We have not had them since.. its been 5 yrs now. I believe he told mom to keep pouring it around the yard for the rest of the summer but i"m not totally sure on that & will have to ask her in the morning.
Hope this helps.
Thank you greykyttn! That is a fantastic bit of info there! I only have them in one flowerbed, I THINK.. but still, that will be good for the flowers!
Porkpal,you are very welcome.
Cody
beware of the Voles too.. they are very mean compared to Moles. My cats won't even mess with them. They are vicious little creatures so either protect urself if u catch one alive or make sure its dead before trying to move it. I didn't think to say that last night when i left the message. My chickens are free range & you can see where the moles have since moved to the neighbors yard bc there are no more grubs to eat. :)
Come to think of it, our voles are gone too!
Snakes are a fact of life around here and I leave them alone. I suspect that a large black rat or king snake was responsible for emptying a nest of young phoebes that lived in the overhang by our garage. We were just about to get our granddaughter to come look, when I saw that they were all gone. A little later I saw the snake. We were very sad, but that's part of nature. Snakes help to keep the balance.
I don't like snakes,doesn't matter what kind.If i see one and i don't freak out it will be dead.My Cat takes care of our moles and rats in the sheds.The one i killed afew weeks ago was about 6ft long.That is something i don't won't my son to go around thinking it's ok to be around them.
my property is full of snakes since its wooded and has lots of rock outcrops with a natural pond that forms at the low end of the property that stays for most of the year I know when it dries up that is when the snakes come out then they are all over the drive way on the lawn and out by the pool, I dont care since none are dangerous and the girls love seeing them and I am not afraid of them I pick them up and put them back in the woods and will run water into the woods to keep it moist to keep them in there and not out into the open, last summer we IDs 5 different ones over the summer and some days would see five up to 8 some days lol it was fun the girls chase them
That's the spirit! I have always loved snakes and felt terrible when they were killed needlessly.
Now spiders are another thing--although I don't kill them either.
I dont mind any bug as long as its not on me that I dont particular like but I love some of them like last summer sitting by the pool I had a stick bug fall onto my chest at first I thought it was a stick lol then it started to move so I called the kids over and it walked up and dont all the little skinny arms then we returned it to the tree it fell out of
I love showing my kids nature at its best
I don't mind bugs either--and I love Preying Mantises. The way they follow you by turning their heads.
Your kids are getting the best education learning to appreciate and love the natural world!
Black Snakes will eat eggs and young chicks as well as strangle young chickens.
I had a black snake last spring eat 4 of my baby doves and strangle and adult dove as well as severely injuring a young one.
My dog hates them and catches them and kills them this one came from the trees above their flight pen.
He didn't last long once i pulled him out of the pen and called the dog.
Oh, which "black snake" do you have?
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW251
I dont have any snakes that climb into the trees thanks mine stay on the ground that would make me freak if one fell on me and I like snakes
a couple of years ago I took the girls to the east coast to visit with family and we spent three weeks exploring the seaside during july at first they would say things like it smells and its hard on the feet when it was time to leave and come back home they started crying wanting to move there lol they loved the tidal pools and walking for miles on sand bars and digging for clams and looking at baby shrimp and minnors it is an experience all children should have, and if everything goes right I am taking them again this summer
I would say it looked like the Black Rat Snake but my DH said it was King Snake i don't care what it was long as it's not around to eat my birds. LOL
These climb the trees here and we also have the long green snakes that look like a water hose they will fall on your head.
I have black rat snakes, also the orange ring neck my daughter had one in a fish tank all last summer finaly let it go last fall after I explained it had to go home
we also have one that is called blue racer, and also one that is black with white strips and a black with yellow strips, this year I have decided to take photos of all the different ones I find
this is a baby I found cleaning out a flower bed
here is another pic she is so cute found two more but the same kind in the last week snake season at my house is july and august then it gets to be real busy ahhahaha
Oh, it is beautiful! It looks a little like those legless lizards.
We have beautiful baby gopher snakes here every autumn. They lie on the dirt roads in the vineyards and are about five inches long with intricate brown and orange marking. It is funny how even baby snakes have that big-eyed, round-headed, "baby" look.
yes I just think they are so cute and both my daughters just love snakes and lizards, and anything else they can catch hahahahahah
Mona,you are very brave.