Snake eating my silkie's eggs! It's a coachwhip! How do I kill it?

[Moochie]

It's this guy, it's a coachwhip. I thought it was the gopher snake I saw in the garden a few weeks ago but it's not as colorful as the gopher snake was... I don't have a picture of the head, but I did see it and it has some black on it's head and the rest of the body is orange. I saw it the other day in the silkie run and figured it was eating the mice so I left it alone. Then I noticed yesterday that I didn't get eggs from the bantam cochin living with my silkies and she lays everyday. This morning my mom saw it gobble up one of the eggs! That's where my eggs are going! And the silkies don't lay in the nice nest boxes I set up for them either, they prefer to lay on the floor for some reason I dunno. I know silkies aren't flighty birds so I put the nest boxes on the ground and I know that darned snake must be under the nest box just waiting for another egg to be laid.

So how do I kill this spawn of Satan? (I just went on a site while making this post and this snake is a coachwhip snake.) It's fast and the silkie's run is kinda small, it's easy for my mom to get around in there, but I'm tall and I feel squished in there. I think I'm gonna move the silkies (and the bantam cochin) somewhere else kind of far away from the snake.. I would still like to kill the snake though. It has made enemies with me by eating the eggs laid by birds.
I tried looking for snake poison in the past but I couldn't find any at any hardware stores or feed stores.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Can you just take a shovel and kill it as it slithers by?

 

[DeepFried]

Rat shot in a .22 pistol works wonders... Like a miniature shotgun (consistent kill at close range); and since the pellets are tiny, minimal blood spill (great for minimal clean up).

 

[Moochie]

I tried. It's fast. I tried with an axe too, if I wait in there it won't come out and if I see it slithering in there, grab the weapon of choice, get in the there, it's already gone. I'm gonna move the silkies in a little bit and I thought of an idea. Can I inject poison into a bantam egg and then leave it in there for the snake? Or will it smell me and not take it?

 

[bigborez50]

i have caught a black snake eating my eggs by putting eggs in a small animal cage ,snake ate egg could not crawl out .22 rat shot and bamm

 

[Moochie]

i have caught a black snake eating my eggs by putting eggs in a small animal cage ,snake ate egg could not crawl out .22 rat shot and bamm

Hmm, what is this .22 rat shot? Also what kind of cage?
Oh and I just moved the silkies with a flock of younger ones. I moved all their stuff with them too and I couldn't find the snake. It's a dinural snake and it could be anywhere right now. I know it will be back though.

 

[DeepFried]

The .22 ratshot is a cartridge for a .22 caliber pistol (or rifle, just not what it is commonly used with). It has little pellets like a shot shell instead of a solid bullet.

 

[Beth K.]

An older man I know said his mother's weapon of choice was a sharp garden hoe. Chopped them into little bitty pieces.

 

[DLS]

I caught a couple rat snakes eating eggs this summer. I kept an eye out & got them 1 x1 in the nest eating . I popped them with my .22 , I used a shell called "Cb's" very weak but enough for close in. I make cuts in the snake long ways so as they can get to the meat & the birds eat the thing up . It takes a few days but it is all gone. = free food PROTEIN

 

[Texas Chickens]

Was the end of the snake kinda a light sandy colored with no markings going into a long pointed tail?

Yesterday while I was in the brooder house and the little chicks were out running [going on 6 weeks old] there was a commotion going on and then everyone ran out the door I turned to look and saw the tail end of a snake going into the hole in the shed wall. It got so far in and then the end where the tail is just hung out about 2 feet or so. Everyone ran back in and gathered around the tail hanging out and did their chicken talk. The genies pushed their way to the front and did their talking among themselves about what it was.. still not big enough to go out of coop to the outside yet... Cat food still. I went to get shovel or hoe and when I was on way back I heard them all doing their OMG! thing again and no snake tail hanging out when I went to chop the tail off ...

I went and got the net that we were going to put around the yard and house this weekend cause I need help putting it up and cut some off and stuck it in the hole really good with the end of the broom Later that evening my brother came home and we put the netting up all over the outside of the yard and every crack we could find.

I think it was a coach whip as I read that they can be a light sandy color to tan also with no pattern on them. We do have them out here but its been years since I last saw any out here. If its not a coach whip what could it have been? It was a long snake... Been looking online for Texas snakes and that is the closest I can come to what I saw.