Snake a Palooza

Wow, this must be the year of the snake.

This is the third snake that Son has killed in the last 24 hours.  One was beside the barn, one was in the barn, and this last one was in the coop, in a nesting box...

with a full belly.

We cut the belly open (pretty gruesome) and guess what we found?

The black chick that was hatched by the broody hen several weeks ago, which had gone missing yesterday morning.  It was significantly bigger than in this picture.

We were very sad to lose the chick and even sadder to know that it was eaten by a snake.

**Shudder**

Garden gate latch.

Right under the gate latch.

Lends new meaning to the saying, "If it were a snake, it would have bit me."

I didn't see this critter until I had already opened the gate, walked through, then turned to close it.

It stayed curled up in there until I poked it a few times.

Then it slithered magically across the board.

I didn't know what kind it was, but went inside and looked it up.  It is a Texas rat snake (also often called a chicken snake) and not poisonous.  They eat small rodents, which is good, but they also get into the chicken coop and eat the eggs, which is not good.  This one will live another day, but if it decides to go to the coop, that's where it's luck will run out.