I went down to the coop to check on my 10 two week old keets and something wasn't right. They are usually running all around pecking at something, but this time they were in their "escape" corner being very quite. Not making a sound and looking at the metal trash can I have in the corner that holds their food. On top of that I have a black trash bag with fresh shavings in it. Behind the trash can I have packed hay in the corner so they can't get back there. I looked over there and didn't see anything, but they were still looking. Then I hear that black trash bag on top of the can make noise. I knew something was there but didn't know what. I moved the trash bag a little and saw something black flop into that hay. It was pretty dark in there but I knew that was a snake. Now im in a coop with 10 keets a snake and nothing to fight him with. I run 100 yards back to the house, its 95 degrees out there mind you, get my "special" shotgun, it has a light mounted on it, and run back. Shine the light on him, he pokes his head up, "boom" no more snake. I look at the keets, they look at me and go back to pecking and peeping. Your welcome..lol. Turns out it was a 5 foot rat snake. I wouldn't normally kill them but... So after I fix the fist size hole I blew out in the back of the coop (woops) I found a small hole in the corner, the size of a quarter. I fixed that and searched the rest of the coop filling anything I could see with foam insulation then covering it. A snake can't get through that foam and it works pretty good. Also put lime around the outside of the coop. If it hadn't been for those keets acting strange, I would have never known.
