Snakes in the chicken coup

[catjac1975]

Whenever I see you southerners eating fresh veggies while I still have snow on the ground I wonder why I live in a cold climate. Then I came across this post on BYC and realized with my aversion to garden snakes, that I could never live in an area where a snake could actually kill ME. But I thought this was a great idea for those of you dealing with those ghastly varmints. It is hard to look at if you dispose snakes.
This supersedes my garden envy.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/515899/best-way-ive-found-yet-to-deal-with-snake-problems

 

[Nyboy]

Cat i feel the same way about snakes. In NY we do have rattlesnakes and copperheads.

 

[canesisters]

I had a black snake in the yard last week. Normally I leave them alone but this one was heading right for the brooder. So I grabbed the hoe and then carried it to the coop thinking that this was a great opportunity to get the chickens to view snakes as food.....
2 days later it stunk so bad I had to carry it to the woods.
Stupid chickens....

 

[catjac1975]

Cat i feel the same way about snakes. In NY we do have rattlesnakes and copperheads.

There are the same in the mountains of Connecticut where I grew up, and Massachusetts where I now live. Thankfully I have never encountered any. I am on the coast. Early settlers eradicated all dangerous animals I guess. I still shriek at the sight of a 10 inch garden snake. I have gotten better I can peek at them a bit on TV.

 

[catjac1975]

I had a black snake in the yard last week. Normally I leave them alone but this one was heading right for the brooder. So I grabbed the hoe and then carried it to the coop thinking that this was a great opportunity to get the chickens to view snakes as food.....
2 days later it stunk so bad I had to carry it to the woods.
Stupid chickens....

YOU ARE VERY BRAVE!

 

[canesisters]

??
I didn't carry it anywhere until it's head was pretty much detatched... and then it was at the end of the hoe. LOL

<<<--- --- Not brave - but NOT gonna find a fat snake in the brooder where I was expecting to find chicks.

 

[JimWWhite]

Black rat snakes are beneficial to farmers and ranchers and should never be killed. When black snakes move into an area copperheads and other snakes move out. They do it two ways by going after the mice and other critters the venomous snakes live off of. And they will also kill and eat copperheads. We find them all the time. I'll find one every few weeks in the chicken coop. They're just looking for mice. They've never harmed one of our chickens and as far as I can tell they aren't eating the eggs. They follow the mice and keep their populations down. I've taken ones that I've caught in my coop and thrown them under my house in the crawl space. No more mice. They won't hurt you. Well, I guess they could if you backed them into a corner and they managed to get their mouth on a finger or something. Then you'd probably need a tetanus shot just to be on the safe side. But please, don't kill black snakes. They deserve your gratitude and not a hoe. Just because they're a snake doesn't mean they are the proverbial devil.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Snakephobia?

I don't ever kill snakes because I consider them all beneficial. If I find one near the babies or nesting boxes, I just catch and move it.

Nyboy, Eastern Diamondback or Massasauga? We have both here. We don't come across the Eastern Diamondbacks very often and have yet to see a Massasauga, but we know there here.

 

[catjac1975]

My husband keeps telling me about the beneficial properties. We do not kill them. But, I cannot control my ancestral aversion to them.

 

[Nyboy]

Seedobsesser we have timber rattlers very rare on endanger list. In 50 years only seen 1.