Snake Battle: Chapter 2

Here's a shot of the egg-eater getting away through the chicken wire when I first encountered him. When I saw him get away it was obvious that I'd have to put up some wire with smaller holes and possibly patch up some other spots too.

This picture was taken last Thursday and I knew I wouldn't have time to make repairs until the weekend. On Friday I came home and checked the coop first thing. I didn't see the snake anywhere but I checked for eggs and there were none . . . hmmm. The hen box was getting a little poopy so I decided I'd go ahead and clean that out. I put hinges on the front wall of the box to make clean out pretty easy.

Here's a shot of the coop that I think will show what I'm referring to as the front wall - it's where the chickens walk up their little chicken ramp and into the box.

And here's a shot of the clean out door open - you can see how that gives easy access to the inside of the hen box.

Anyways, I'm raking out the old straw and have it almost all out when a snaky head pops out from the back corner. There he is coiled up in the hen box lookin' all fat and happy. You could tell he had really been enjoying himself until I came along. First he has a nice big meal then he's got a ready-made cozy spot to curl up in and take a little snooze. Sounds nice doesn't it?

What to do now? I hemmed and hawed a bit trying to figure out what to do with or to the thing. I decided to get a box from the garage and see if I could scoop him into it with my hay fork. After several attempts I was finally able to use the fork to drag his fat snake butt out of the corner and over the edge of the open hen box door - plop - he landed right in my waiting box trap. I quickly closed the lid and made sure it wasn't going to open. Once I was certain he wasn't going anywhere I carried him far back into our woods. I went across our creek thinking that the prospect of a river crossing might help discourage him from returning - probably won't do a darn thing.

We didn't see him back all weekend, of course I was out checking for eggs about every 15 minutes. I gathered them as soon as they appeared - eggs are really warm when first laid, neat.

I did put up some 1/2" hardware cloth over the chicken wire on the wall he was using to come in. That side of the coop is the only one that wasn't already covered in 1/2" hardware cloth. I also used some expanding foam spray to plug a hole in some of our porch framing that I think he was using, or could use to gain access to the coop.

Let's hope this works. I'll keep you posted.