Snake/Predator proof coops

[Rising2KRanch]

Hey everyone! Are there any tips/tricks to snake/predator proofing my coop? New to Alabama and fixing up a good size shed to make into a coop along with the run. Any suggestions welcome! Thank you!

 

[aprille218]

Use hardware cloth not chicken wire. Make sure you bury some along the exterior too.

 

[Travlr]

Predator proof your coop and an adjacent run. Use close knit (small hole) metal chicken wire and bury it at least a foot deep. Make sure the roost is a couple of feet away from the wire or any wall that might have cracks in it. Racoons will reach through and grab a bird, and eat it through the wire. If you have a wooden floor, cover it with wire. Don't forget to close any holes around the eaves or roof. Only feed your birds inside the enclosed part of the coop so local wild birds don't accumulate.

I like to set up the run so that the chickens have to pass through it to get outside to free range. Then I set up a system where if something comes at night they go into the run and when they start nosing around the inner door to the coop they trip a wire that closes the outer door on the run. You would be amazed at what you will catch. I've probably lost more chickens to domestic cats than anything else.

It's hard to stop snakes and I don't worry about them. You may find one in a nest once in awhile, bloated with eggs, but just catch them and take them somewhere that's just pastureland and toss them across a fence. No reason to kill them considering how valuable they are in eating rodents that you don't want around.

 

[Ky hills]

Predator proof your coop and an adjacent run. Use close knit (small hole) metal chicken wire and bury it at least a foot deep. Make sure the roost is a couple of feet away from the wire or any wall that might have cracks in it. Racoons will reach through and grab a bird, and eat it through the wire. If you have a wooden floor, cover it with wire. Don't forget to close any holes around the eaves or roof. Only feed your birds inside the enclosed part of the coop so local wild birds don't accumulate.

I like to set up the run so that the chickens have to pass through it to get outside to free range. Then I set up a system where if something comes at night they go into the run and when they start nosing around the inner door to the coop they trip a wire that closes the outer door on the run. You would be amazed at what you will catch. I've probably lost more chickens to domestic cats than anything else.

It's hard to stop snakes and I don't worry about them. You may find one in a nest once in awhile, bloated with eggs, but just catch them and take them somewhere that's just pastureland and toss them across a fence. No reason to kill them considering how valuable they are in eating rodents that you don't want around.

There is such a thing as a big black snake killing a chicken and then not being able to eat it. You’ll find a hen dead with its head and neck stretched out and looking like it’s been wet. I’ve lost a few hens over the years like that and a bout a 3 month old rooster in a separate rabbit hutch style coop with other hatch mates.
A snake would have been the only thing that could have gotten in there. If a mink or weasel had there would have been visible signs and carnage of maybe every bird in there.

 

[coachg]

Don’t know about keeping snakes out but chicken wire is useless ! It will keep the chickens in but not keep dogs , coons or coyotes out .

 

[Travlr]

There is such a thing as a big black snake killing a chicken and then not being able to eat it. You'll find a hen dead with its head and neck stretched out and looking like it's been wet. I've lost a few hens over the years like that and a bout a 3 month old rooster in a separate rabbit hutch style coop with other hatch mates.
A snake would have been the only thing that could have gotten in there. If a mink or weasel had there would have been visible signs and carnage of maybe every bird in there.

I've had big black snakes (King snakes?) in nests and eating eggs. Never known one to kill a chicken, but they are big enough to do it I guess.

 

[sstterry]

I have never seen a Black Snake kill a grown chicken, but I have seen them eating baby chicks plenty of times.

 

[4hfarms]

We had a 3.5ft snake kill a chicken and eat all the eggs she was sitting on. Used a .22
Or
Trained goat sniper.

 

[Ky hills]

I've had big black snakes (King snakes?) in nests and eating eggs. Never known one to kill a chicken, but they are big enough to do it I guess.

Black rat snakes, just locally known as black snakes here. I reckon black racers are lumped into that term too.

 

[Ky hills]

I have never seen a Black Snake kill a grown chicken, but I have seen them eating baby chicks plenty of times.

Yes they will easily eat eggs and small chicks, but a big black snake can and will kill grown chickens too. The result will be a dead chicken with no real signs of being attacked other than the head and neck will be wet or matted where the snake has tried to swallow it and couldn't. The snake is capable of killing grown chickens but not capable of following through with eating them.
https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.c... answer is yes,eat full-grown adult chickens.
https://everythingreptilion.com/do-black-rat-snakes-attack-chickens-the-surprising-answer/