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And Another One

No pictures this time but I went out to let the chickens out this morning . . half asleep and very wary of snakes. A small bunny about scared me half to death. They blend in so well with the brown grass and I was right up on him before he jumped and scared me half to death!

I let the Dominiques on the north side of the coop out, let the bantams on the south side out and OMG . . there’s another big snake in there. Vince was still home . . peacefully eating his breakfast and I came and said “You get the honors this time!”

Unfortunately, he had already killed one of my chickens. So, all  you tenderhearts or animal rights folks who thinks the snakes should live, this is the reason chicken snakes do not need to be around chickens. Of the 6 bantams that survived the dog incident (as eggs that later hatched), I gave one rooster to a friend and now one has been killed by a snake so I have 4 of the 6 left.

We think they’re coming in through the open chicken doors and maybe this one got in yesterday and was in there when we closed the chickens up last night. We’ll be checking the coops before closing the chickens up and we’ll be inspecting all the coops tonight to see if we can find any places where snakes are getting in. If it’s through the open doors, there’s just not much we can do about it except checking the coops at night before closing the chickens up.

Two snakes in the same coop in about 14 hours . . life in the country is a bit stressful today and I’ll be cautious of every step I take and I’m not sure I’m even brave enough to check for eggs.

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Comments

  1. Snakes can find plenty of other food, they don’t need your chickens! Hope you can find how they are getting in.

  2. I’m just terrified of snakes thanks to a younger brother. Now spiders and scorpions don’t bother me. But a six inch snake is a whole nuther matter. Maybe I need to stop harassing hubby about getting chickens.

  3. Holy crap you have my sympathies! I might get over ONE of those instances, but not several in a row! I think you better move to Arkansas 🙂

  4. I am not that familar with fencing but can you put a snake fencing around the botton of the existing fence. A friend of my aunt’s who lives in San Antonia did is around her garden to keep the snakes out. Take care.

  5. Definitely wear your boots to the chicken coops! Hopefully you have gotten all of them that knew how to get into the coop (LOL). I don’t mind snakes generally – so long as they aren’t where they don’t belong or hiding someplace where I can’t see them (like my veggie garden). Then they tend to go to snake heaven.

  6. I’ve been reading that guinea hens like to terrorize snakes. Since you’re considering them anyways, it’s worth a try. At the very least, they’ll let you know there’s a snake so you don’t get any surprises.

    You’ll know if you’ve overdone the snake-killing if you find there’s a lot more mice and voles..

  7. OMG poor you! I would definitely need a change of undergarments if I saw more than one loose snake in a lifetime… I don’t mind snakes if they’re oh, say, behind glass in the zoo!

  8. Ohhhhhh having a lot of sympathy for you and the chickens. That is very creepy so close together. Maybe you need wine in a sippy cup with you at all times!! Or chocolate kisses at the very least. Have a better day.

  9. I don’t think any snake should live. If it is near me it dies. We tried tossing the non-poisonous snakes over the fence but they came back multibple times a day. So they just go to snake-y heaven.

    I lost a dog to a snake bite when we lived in Hammond, LA. The dog saw the snake near me and I didn’t and he grabbed it and it grabbed him. Most of the time a snake won’t kill a dog, but it bit him and pierced the trachea.

    No snake is a good snake in my hmble opinion.

    glen in Louisiana (where there are MANY snakes)

  10. Oh I hope this is it for you for the snakes. I never even thought of snakes hurting my chickens. I am a little worried about the red fox that made a den in the woods lately. We’ll see what happens. I raised four from chicks this spring. The other 14 of my flock are coming SATURDAY!!! I’m so excited. I’m sorry to see my friend move away, but I’m happy she let me buy her flock. Let the adventures begin — no snakes, please.

  11. I’m hoping the snake repellent you mentioned will work. Not even seeing snakes seems like the best situation.

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