I just found the fourth fifth snake in the chicken pen tonight.  Hard to tell how long it was because it was coiled up in one of the nest boxes, but I’d guess around 2 feet.  I’m not sure what species of snake.  It was a dark olivish green with black blotches.  The belly was a yellowish color, fading to white under the head.  Maybe a water snake or a rat snake?  Whatever it was, it was non-venomous and too small to hurt the chickens so I hope it gets those darned mice.

The first snake I found in the coop was a gorgeous texas rat snake.  He was about 3 feet long, light grey with charcoal blotches on his back.  I was looking forward to him sticking around, but by some freak accident I ran over him with the riding mower.

The second snake was a small copperhead.  He was a little over a foot long.  I have such mixed feelings about copperheads.  I’ve heard some people say that they’re aggressive snakes but that’s not been my experience and the majority of what I have read about them confirms my experiences. They would rather sit still and avoid being noticed or get the fuck out of there than bite someone.  And their venom isn’t that deadly.  Copperheads rank pretty low on the list of venomous snakes in north america. Nonetheless, I killed him.

The third snake was a black snake.  She was about a foot and a half.  A good snake, so I left her alone.  I haven’t seen her again.

The fourth snake was another copperhead.  This one was slightly larger than the first.  I wasn’t the one that found it.  That honor goes to Sadie.  She was in  the chicken run hunting mice when I heard her barking.  I stepped out of the chicken coop and she was lunging at something in the weeds.  I feared it was a rat snake, and tried to call her off but she had already grabbed the snake and was thrashing it about wildly.  Within a second that snake was dead and quite mutilated.  Somehow, Sadie was envenomed.  I couldn’t find a bite mark, but she acted a bit drunk for an hour and her throat was a little swollen for a day.