A scare in the 'chicken infirmary'

We have a small barn that we call the goat barn.  This is where Annie gets put into each night to keep her away from Nellie so that we'll have goat milk for us in the morning.  Currently, the goat barn is doubling as our chicken infirmary.

Our hens have a really bad habit of getting too close to our cows.  They scurry around them during the morning milking and they also like to wait for flies to land on the cows' legs and then they catch the flies and eat them.  This is a dangerous activity that inevitably leads to problems as the cows aren't looking out for what's underneath their feet.  A four pound hen is no match for an 800 - 900 pound cow.  A couple of months ago we nursed one hen back to health after she had been stepped on.  Currently, we've got another hen in the chicken infirmary that we're feeding and watering during her rehabilitation.

Yesterday, Russ came running and told me that there was a big snake in with the injured chicken.  As I opened the door, I spotted the snake.  He was hard to miss.


Rat Snake

This is a rat snake.  They're also called chicken snakes around here because they can be found in close proximity to chickens many times as they LOVE to eat chicken eggs.  They are harmless to humans (other than scaring them!).  They are like heat-seeking missiles that seek out and destroy rats.  This is a good thing - especially in our barn.  I really want to just leave him alone.  However, the sad fact remains that he eats eggs and has made his way into our barn where the chicken nesting boxes are. 

A greater point of consideration is the reality that my wife goes out to the barn daily and it will be impossible for a BIG snake and my wife to coexist in the same general location.  Tricia does not like snakes.  So, the snake must die.  I asked Russ to run and get a shovel.  In the prior picture you couldn't really scale the snake to see how big he was - in the picture below you can tell.  I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall.  I'm not holding him by the very end of the tail. I would estimate he measured about 6 feet long.  They can grow to be around 10 feet long.

Over five feet long

Snakes causing trouble comes as no surprise,though.  They've been causing trouble since the beginning:

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
And dust you will eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” - Genesis 3: 13-15

See what I mean about there being enmity between the snake and the woman?!  The hens gathered around the body of the snake just to rubber-neck or possibly to try and figure out how to eat the snake - the hunter becomes the prey.

Dont' tread on me!

After taking the picture below, I chopped up Mr. Snake into bite-size pieces for the chickens to snake, err, snack on.  Chickens are omnivores, after all.


Let's say grace before we eat, shall we?

So killing the snake was a positive occurrence for most involved:

• For the rats,
• For the chickens and their eggs,
• But most importantly, For my wife! (She's in South Texas visiting her Mom and she's already texted me asking, "What's this I hear about a snake!!!!")  Russ must have called his momma!

It's all taken care of, dear.