Big snake eating my eggs - Help !!!

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
For the 1st time in 3 + years of having chickens I found a HUGE snake (6 or 7 feet long?) in the nest box on Saturday - I ALMOST stuck my hand in there (was getting dark but saw that dark mass wrapped around the eggs) ! I promptly made noise and stomped (vibrations) and the snake took off. I hoped being disturbed would deter the snake from coming back AND I left that particular nest box outside of the chicken pen hoping if the snake went back to that box and found no eggs it would move on?

On Sunday I checked the remaining nest boxes every few hours and on the 3rd check I found a snake in one with a mouth full of egg. Well I got the shovel and killed that snake. It had apparently been eating the eggs for many months, and it took me that long to catch it. Now I know why I kept finding what appeared to be egg contents on the other eggs yet no broken shells. That snake has been eating my eggs since it came out of hibernation it seems. I wish I could have relocated it, but it was so big/long I didn't want to try to catch it and risk being bitten.

What can I do to keep snakes out of my chicken coop?
 

Dupontster

Would THIS face lie?
I'd put up a sign that said..."No Snakes Allowed" Ya never know, just might work....:shrug:....Or..."Any snake found in this nesting box will be beaten with a shovel by one angry human...Come on Snake, Make My Day"
 

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
It's a temporary setup so some things I can't change ... the bottom half is wood and the top half is wood and chain link, so he could be getting in that way by going UP the wall and through the chain link? Or there may be a couple gaps he is getting in near the ground?? I'll take steps to re-board up those small gaps but I hear snakes can almost always get in?

I didn't see how the snake got in/out because I dragged the nest box outside the coop area and he took off from there on Saturday.

Does that "snake away" stuff work? or moth balls?

You gave me a good idea though - I do have some 1" (and maybe some 1/2"?) hardware cloth that I could use on the inside or the outside of the chain link to limit that access.

I feel horrible for killing the snake.

Put better fencing (like rat wire) around. How is it getting in?
 

PrepH4U

New Member
I'd put up a sign that said..."No Snakes Allowed" Ya never know, just might work....:shrug:....Or..."Any snake found in this nesting box will be beaten with a shovel by one angry human...Come on Snake, Make My Day"

:lol:
If I found a snake in my coop I would need cpr! :whistle: So far we have been lucky, nothing to stop them from coming in, we leave the coop door open everyday so chickens can go back in if they feel the need. Close it up early evening.
 

bcp

In My Opinion
why would you kill the snake?
its only doing what is natural to it.
most likely a black snake, they belong here.
Nature in motion.
what gives your chicken eggs greater rights than those of the snake?

Now, lets look at the snake.
even if it did bite you, and that would be a rare thing, it is not harmful to you other than the possible stroke you might have when it did bite. Picking it up and relocating it would only pass the problem on to someone else, so the best thing to do would be for you to spend the money to put some screening around the coop and make sure there were no holes that the snake could gain entrance from. It would move on to better feeding grounds on its own soon after.

Killing a snake is not the answer, I like to have those big snakes around to keep the feral cat population in check.
 

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
All the chickens were in the vicinity of the nesting box acting anxious and I didn't pay any attention to them because I was trying to hurry and get the eggs before dark - I almost ended up bitten as I paused when I leaned over to start picking up eggs as I saw that dark ring around the clutch of eggs - hmm and then my brain went SNAKE !!!!!!! That snake would have died Saturday had I been bitten. I hoped to give it a chance like I did that Copperhead I found a year ago that never came back (I said you better not or you'll be dead).

:lol:
If I found a snake in my coop I would need cpr! :whistle: So far we have been lucky, nothing to stop them from coming in, we leave the coop door open everyday so chickens can go back in if they feel the need. Close it up early evening.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
For the 1st time in 3 + years of having chickens I found a HUGE snake (6 or 7 feet long?) in the nest box on Saturday - I ALMOST stuck my hand in there (was getting dark but saw that dark mass wrapped around the eggs) ! I promptly made noise and stomped (vibrations) and the snake took off. I hoped being disturbed would deter the snake from coming back AND I left that particular nest box outside of the chicken pen hoping if the snake went back to that box and found no eggs it would move on?

On Sunday I checked the remaining nest boxes every few hours and on the 3rd check I found a snake in one with a mouth full of egg. Well I got the shovel and killed that snake. It had apparently been eating the eggs for many months, and it took me that long to catch it. Now I know why I kept finding what appeared to be egg contents on the other eggs yet no broken shells. That snake has been eating my eggs since it came out of hibernation it seems. I wish I could have relocated it, but it was so big/long I didn't want to try to catch it and risk being bitten.

What can I do to keep snakes out of my chicken coop?


Kind of hard to ask for help AFTER you kill it.

Feed it feral kittens it will leave the eggs alone.


With chicken coops, seed.. droppings etc.. etc.. that snake was probably the only thing between you and a serious mouse/rat problem.


Kill the snake put out the welcome mat for mice and rats, as I doubt your feral (or any) cat is prowling inside the chicken coop.
 

appyday

Back again
I usually do not kill black snakes either..but I have been missing alot of eggs too and I only get 4 a day so I am getting almost none now..I found a 5 footer in my chicken nest the other day too...he was gone when I got back with the shovel..but I am on the outlook for him..if he stayed to mice I would have let him go but as they get big enough to eat eggs they are
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Our last house (1/4 mile away) was inundated with mice. I constantly had to treat the garage, and every time I cleaned the garage I'd find a 1/2 dozen or more dead dried up mice.

The new house backs up to the woods. I have a BIG black snake that nests in a hollow tree, and have spotted a few babies this year in and around the yard. BG found one yesterday and didn't kill it (I was so proud I almost cried), and she even gave me the opportunity as to what to look for as far as good snake bad snake. Baby Rat/ King snakes aren't black and a lot of people confuse them for copperheads.

Needless to say, NO MICE at the new house. Spiders up the kazoo, but no mice.
 

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
sadly snakes will opt for the food that doesn't RUN every time (eggs, baby animals) - the mouse population continues to grow despite the snake presence - the snake was too busy eating eggs to care about the mice.

I was asking for help on how to keep snakes out of the coop for the OTHERS that may be visiting - who says there's just one? If I can keep them from eating eggs, maybe they will chase down some mice? :whistle:

If everyone who FEEDS feral cats would get them FIXED - the population wouldn't continue to grow at such an alarming rate. People who feed ferals but don't fix them are encouraging breeding AND increasing the survival rates of the kittens. Rah Rah FF (fix ferals) .... :popcorn:

Kind of hard to ask for help AFTER you kill it.

Feed it feral kittens it will leave the eggs alone.


With chicken coops, seed.. droppings etc.. etc.. that snake was probably the only thing between you and a serious mouse/rat problem.


Kill the snake put out the welcome mat for mice and rats, as I doubt your feral (or any) cat is prowling inside the chicken coop.
 

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
I actually don't mind snakes - hence why I let that Copperhead (was a baby) have its life a year ago. We took it way back in the woods and told it NOT TO COME BACK, and it didn't (maybe some other critter ate it?).

I know how valuable snakes are for rodent control, so I hope that by further snake-proofing the coop that the snakes will look for other prey, albeit harder to catch .....

Our last house (1/4 mile away) was inundated with mice. I constantly had to treat the garage, and every time I cleaned the garage I'd find a 1/2 dozen or more dead dried up mice.

The new house backs up to the woods. I have a BIG black snake that nests in a hollow tree, and have spotted a few babies this year in and around the yard. BG found one yesterday and didn't kill it (I was so proud I almost cried), and she even gave me the opportunity as to what to look for as far as good snake bad snake. Baby Rat/ King snakes aren't black and a lot of people confuse them for copperheads.

Needless to say, NO MICE at the new house. Spiders up the kazoo, but no mice.
 

ArkRescue

Adopt me please !
Well I wish I had run the darn thing off again and then worked harder at snake-proofing before killing it - I can't get it out of my head how I brutally killed it with that shovel. I'm not proud of myself.

I usually do not kill black snakes either..but I have been missing alot of eggs too and I only get 4 a day so I am getting almost none now..I found a 5 footer in my chicken nest the other day too...he was gone when I got back with the shovel..but I am on the outlook for him..if he stayed to mice I would have let him go but as they get big enough to eat eggs they are
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
 

aps45819

24/7 Single Dad
If everyone who FEEDS feral cats would get them FIXED - the population wouldn't continue to grow at such an alarming rate. People who feed ferals but don't fix them are encouraging breeding AND increasing the survival rates of the kittens. Rah Rah FF (fix ferals) .... :popcorn:

and if we all ate rainbows we'd poop lolly pops :bigwhoop:

FYI - a snake with an egg in it's mouth can't bite you
 

appyday

Back again
Well I can not snake proof a whole barn..my chickens lay in a stall with hay...so my snake eatting snake will die...as I stated i have not killed a black snake in years..and they live there all year...he has probably been there for years and just got big enough to eat eggs so he has warn out his welcome..
 
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