How big will my chicks have to be to be safe from a snakes

[somdroo]

Hello,

New to this blog thing, but I' desperate! I traded in my reds after 3 years. I've always purchased pullets (+/- 12 weeks) but wanted to try Barred Rocks this time so I ended up having to purchase 3 week old chicks. Well their now 5 weeks old and I just moved them out to the cleaned up coop and I day 4 I found a large black snake had killed one of the chicks and was in the middle of attempting to eat her! I've moved the chicks back to the shed, the question is: When can I safely put them back out?

Thanks for the help.

 

[BirdBrain]

How big do they have to be....

That would depend on the snake. Sounds like you have had an encounter with a chicken snake. They are black and can get large. Momma found a three foot one the other day and he was a small one. Generally they have to be too big to swallow. I would think that around 8 weeks or so they would be just fine. I think that generally speaking chicken snakes are mostly interested in eggs, but a young chick here or there is always fair game.