They're beautiful reptiles and they can climb 12' and enter coops over walls, fences and through elevated vents. They'll go into trees and raid for birds and their young. They'll take eggs and chickens when available. They're probably getting enough protein from rodents, NOW, but the moment your poultry make them scent the air with appetite, you'll start losing them unless you have excellent biosecurity. They'll also use rodent burrows to go under barriers. Um, so...pretend you can climb like a rat snake and squeeze through openings and come up under barriers. It's doubtful you can relocate all of them, it's been a banner year for snakes all over North America and they're competing for available food. It could get very ugly as summer proceeds.
Our snake population includes 5' female garter snakes. We use 1/2" hardware cloth as a border, we buried some and we used extensive barriers on vents and under joists on the run and in the coop.
I like snakes, but getting them close to confined birds is just...tragic. Very sorry. On the other hand, if you can snake-proof your coop/run, little else will EVER get in!
