Any ideas to keep snakes out of chicken coup?

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
simpleman

simpleman

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Messages
476
Location
Georgia
I spent several days staying at my Granddaughters house while she was away to watch after her dogs, chickens plants and garden.
Things were going well until day 4 and I noticed her chickens all huddled up at one end of her coup. Went to check it out and a rat snake was in there. When I went to get it, it went under the coup do I opened the roosting side and another rat snake already had an egg in its neck.
Scooped it up and carried it a ways down and set it over the fence. Went back, the other one was coming out. Chased it around as it went up the wire, thru the roof and just as I got a hold of it, a 3rd one slithered up the cage and came in.
She has, what she called snake wire, running around the cage and about 1 foot high, supposed to lightly shock the snake also, don't think that bothered them. I told her before snakes can climb dang near anything. Sent her some pics of them doing that on her coup.
Anyways, anybody have any ideas on how to keep snakes out? Thanks in advance!
 
simpleman said:
I spent several days staying at my Granddaughters house while she was away to watch after her dogs, chickens plants and garden.
Things were going well until day 4 and I noticed her chickens all huddled up at one end of her coup. Went to check it out and a rat snake was in there. When I went to get it, it went under the coup do I opened the roosting side and another rat snake already had an egg in its neck.
Scooped it up and carried it a ways down and set it over the fence. Went back, the other one was coming out. Chased it around as it went up the wire, thru the roof and just as I got a hold of it, a 3rd one slithered up the cage and came in.
She has, what she called snake wire, running around the cage and about 1 foot high, supposed to lightly shock the snake also, don't think that bothered them. I told her before snakes can climb dang near anything. Sent her some pics of them doing that on her coup.
Anyways, anybody have any ideas on how to keep snakes out? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20240526_151848227.jpg
    IMG_20240526_151848227.jpg
    3.5 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_20240526_151613423.jpg
    IMG_20240526_151613423.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_20240526_142058904.jpg
    IMG_20240526_142058904.jpg
    3.4 MB · Views: 0
My brother kept ceramic eggs in the coop. It didn’t keep them out but one ceramic egg and they never swallowed another egg.
 
Last edited:
When the snakes start eating the eggs, then I’m forced to kill them.
I don’t like to, as long as they stay where they belong there’s no problem.
We have a black snake that hangs around the sheds, he’s ok.
But we had four corn snakes living in one of the coops, I had to shoot them.
 
Snake trap:
a 1-gallon jar.
Bore a hole in the lid about 1 1/2" in diameter.
Put an egg inside and place it where it can be seen.
The snake goes in and swallows the egg but can't get out!
If it's a beneficial snake, find him a new home, crush the egg in his throat
and dump him out, if not, take a fillet knife to what's on the outside of the
jar and make a belt to go with dinner.

Put golf balls in a nest, they eat them, then go die.
 
I just take them to the woods way away from any human habitation.

In the middle of 1000 acres of forest they will have to find mice, bugs, and bird eggs.

I will put them in a swamp area if I have time to there is one about 25 miles from here If I am going that way it is the best spot, they will have plenty of company HEHEHEH

Wife says the only good snake is a dead one, but if you don't have chickens and you keep feed, they are a good thing to help keep mice down, they can get out of hand Quick.
 
I don't have any problem with non-poisonous snakes around the house or the chicken coop. They are all welcome. Rattlesnakes are another matter. We find them in the garden, in the barn, under the deck, in the wood pile, in the vehicles, the back yard, near the water troughs, on the driveway, etc. The grandkids carry a snake stick when they're hiking around. They also carry a walky talky and will call me when they find a rattler. When they get a little older I'll give them a .22 to carry with them.
 
I appreciate all the suggestions and will pass them on to my Granddaughter. She doesn't like killing the rat snakes but hates for them to get inside the coup and eating her eggs. She prefers catching them and releasing them far away, but when 3 show up at one time has her rattled!
 
In about 8 years we have only had one, and it was in the yard and not close to our birds. But it was about 4 feet long and my girlfriend was not pleased. I grabbed it up, took photos with me and the kids holding it, then took it to the corner and released it in someones orchard. I thought it was a cool experience, but we only had the one so far. I am just grateful we haven't had a rattler, but I think/hope we are at a high enough elevation where rattlers usually don't range.
Unless they are a frequent problem I wouldn't worry too much, but if they are around on a regular basis maybe try taller fencing with an electric wire at the top. Get a solar electric fence unit designed for cattle or horses and it should keep them out.
 
Snakes cannot stand even the slightest hint of gasoline.
Had an older man tell me he used to compete in the rattlesnake roundups.
He would use a six foot section of old water hose, put one or two drops of gas down the hose insert the other end into a gopher hole and blow the residual fumes into the suspected rattler hideehole .
He said he employed a helper to rangle the snakes because they would exit sometimes like a shot.
He told me when he would get snakes under his house in the crawlspace he would tie up some old cotton grease rag pieces into a rough ball shape, squirt a n amount of gasoline on the rag ball and toss a couple of three under .
 
Because the snakes know that any bird or squirrel nests are now on the ground and easier to get to😁
 
INresponse said:
In about 8 years we have only had one, and it was in the yard and not close to our birds. But it was about 4 feet long and my girlfriend was not pleased. I grabbed it up, took photos with me and the kids holding it, then took it to the corner and released it in someones orchard. I thought it was a cool experience, but we only had the one so far. I am just grateful we haven't had a rattler, but I think/hope we are at a high enough elevation where rattlers usually don't range.
Unless they are a frequent problem I wouldn't worry too much, but if they are around on a regular basis maybe try taller fencing with an electric wire at the top. Get a solar electric fence unit designed for cattle or horses and it should keep them out.
Click to expand...
Thanks, the little fence she had now is solar, just not tall enough! Now that she has seen how high they can stretch to climb, she is going to make it taller.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top