Possible Snake Nest Under/Near Chicken Coop

[Red1990]

My husband and I recently bought a 6 acre plot of land that had a coop already built on it. We didn't think anything about it not being safe so went ahead and bought 13 chicks off of a friend to start with. We got down to 9 chicks so we put them in a cage inside the coop to see if that would help. We didn't lose any for about a week. Yesterday I went out to check them and there were two black rat snakes inside the cage! They couldn't get out after eating one chick a piece and then killing a third (they went into the burn bin to appease my blood thirsty husband). I am beginning to think we have a nest somewhere under or near the coop. There is a lot of brush and junk all around the coop that I am slowly working on clearing (husband works all day so it is up to me) but it is taking a lot longer than I thought. My question is, how do I tell if it is a nest somewhere and if it is how do I find it and get rid of it? I am down to five chicks now and I'd really like to avoid losing any more. I've done the moth ball thing the night before we found the two snakes in the cage with the chicks so obviously that didn't work. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[FireTigeris]

Snake proof the cage, check out my link if it's snake proof chances are it's mouse and rat proof to- or very close..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6177963/user_id/44847

That's vinyl lattice flooring, plywood and 1/4 inch hardware cloth (or welded wire cloth).

I've had one snake that we carried in on accident in a Christmas tree and after two years we have our first mice- but I fixed that today.

 

[Mike Winters]

that must have been a fun christmas day. wow you got me a belt. whys the belt moving .... **** snake in the house !!

 

[FireTigeris]

It was after we are done with the cut tree we take it outside, then into the coop- in the couple days outside a snake moved in for the remaining water (FL pine snake) - if he hadn't charged me I'd have shooed him out alive... He ate my only chick that season.

 

[Red1990]

Thank you! I will definitely use this idea, it is the best I've seen. I've got all of my chickens in rabbit cages in my barn right now and am just gonna tear down the coop that is standing right now. We had just moved the chicks to the barn but the big ones were getting over heated and it will be easier to just build a new on instead of trying to fix the old one.