‘Be aware’: A&M AgriLife expert discusses snake threat around chicken coops

WOOD COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - The traditional hot, dry part of East Texas summer is here.

And with it brings in wildlife, like raccoons and snakes, looking for food and water.

Those who raise chickens know it’s like ringing a dinner bell for any wildlife looking for an easy meal. Wood County chicken raiser Larry Hendrix has had to deal with it.

“You would think I put up a Chick-Fil-A sign at the coop and the drive-thru was full. So we’ve had foxes and raccoons. mainly raccoons. They were really bending that chicken wire so that they could get in there,” Hendrix says.

“Meals are harder to find for wildlife; if they realize there’s an easy picking to come they’ll take it,” says Gregg County Texas A&M AgriLife extension agent Shanequa Davis.

Most common raiders are raccoons going after the chickens, and snakes looking for eggs.

Snakes are particularly unnerving, sometimes even waiting in the nest for an egg to be laid.

“Be aware when you’re going into your chicken coops at this time, especially if you have a hen setting on a nest, don’t just stick your hand in there,” Davis says.

One of the most effective ways to keep raccoons out are motion censor detectors, complete with flashing lights and sound.

But like all predators, they learn.

“After a while they realize oh that’s the same thing over and over again, that’s there every day,” the ag agent says.

“I can try to at least not make it easy for them and limit our losses. We’ll keep investing in it,” says Hendrix.

Some use sulfur powder or snake repellent, to keep snakes away, but Davis says there is no ‘one thing’ to solve the problem.

“Checking your coops and pens, making sure nothing can burrow under it. It’s just being vigilant, being aware, being proactive,” she says.

Davis says chicken raisers should make sure their fencing and coop are securely wired with no gaps, and frequently inspect it.