Snake in the Chicken Coop

13 years ago

Happens every year that I have chicks, an old chicken snake gets into the coop and goes after them. I was missing one chick and I looked all over the yard for it and never found it. The fact that it was missing but there were no feathers laying around told me that I had a snake, and not a hawk. I turned the coop upside down looking for the snake that day but didn't find him. The next day three more chicks went missing and I found a dead one laying in the corner of the coop, so I knew the snake was close by. I always keep a hatchet in the coop with the word "Snake" etched on it, (one size fits all) so I grabbed it and lifted a small cardboard box lid. There he was all perched up in the hay like he owned the place. He had a very lumpy belly which really pi$$ed me off, cause I knew he was full-o-chicken. So I ruined his day and cut off his head, and after that he was only about 4 1/2' long. There are four creatures that I don't mind killing, snakes (the ones that eat my chicks-I don't kill the garters), fire ants, black widow and brown recluse spiders, and scorpions. I'm sorry, I know they all have a place in this world and in the environment, but this is my environment and they gotta go find their own environment to live in. Besides, I'm glad I found him before My 2 yo DGS did, he loves to go up to the coop and hunt eggs. Cheryl

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Comments (10)

Lin barkingdogwoods
13 years ago
so have you figured out how this snake got in? I bet he had buddies..
seamommy
Original Author
13 years ago
I found a couple places he could have come through and filled them up. I usually see a snake right after I have the place mowed. Anyway, I didn't have any baby chicks last year and no snakes. The year before I had chicks and killed three snakes before they got the chicks, the biggest one was over 6' long. I have pictures. Is there such a thing as a snake deterrent?
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carrie751
13 years ago
Yes, I saw one yesterday in Lowe's while looking for fertilizer. I don't know how well they work, but I do know that snakes do NOT like the smell of sulphur.
seamommy
Original Author
13 years ago
ALLRIGHT!!!!I have sulphur in the barn, I'm going home and spread it around the coop and the pen today. The mowers are coming again on Friday and I have to go out of town on Sunday for the rest of the week. So if the mowers chase another snake into the pen I won't know about it until I get home. DH is a great guy and will feed and water my chickens while I'm gone. But if something was eating them, he probably wouldn't notice, God bless his little pea-pickin' heart! He's scared of snakes anyway. Can you believe that? We had a possum in the garage one night and he went out there, picked the thing up by the tail with his bare hands, carried it out to a neighboring pasture and put it up in a tree. Egads, I almost passed out, I'm scared $hitle$$ of possums! Cheryl
ltcollins1949
13 years ago
I've already had so many snakes this year, both poisonous and non-poisonous. I leave the non-poisonous ones alone, but the others get their heads chopped off. Check out your feed store for some "Snake Away".
remuda1
13 years ago
Ya'll prolly know that I've already killed a baby rattlesnake here this year. Killed it out in my garden area. Hubby came home with two containers of sulfer and two containers of mothballs...... He spread them around the perimeter of the backyard where his lil baby yorkie runs around, not out in the garden area where his lil baby WIFE runs around, rofl!! Oh well, I'll just have to keep my eyes WIDE open I guess ;).

Kristi
carrie751
13 years ago
Hey, Kristi, we gotta protect these Yorkies !!!!
remuda1
13 years ago
LOL Carrie :). Of course we do! When the little female got bitten last year, we joked that she was on IV to Bob's credit card ;). She was in the hospital for over a week and the staff treated her as if she were one of their children. They were great and she lived on to run the household and terrorize anyone and anything she thinks needs terrorizing :).
Kristi
carrie751
13 years ago
We have two new ones, both girls, that we got from a rescue sight. They are the joy of our lives right now, and have ALMOST gotten us trained.
beachplant
13 years ago
A friend sent me a photo of two HUGE diamondbacks mating in her front yard. They were over 6' long. She's watching where she walks!!! We've had a ton of snake bite calls this year.
Tally HO!