First at all you need to figure out what snakes are in your area. Just google it. I'm saying this because there are plenty of good snakes that will not go for your eggs or chicks. Up here we have gopher snakes, which are actually hunting rodents. I can tell you we have tons of rodents. All I have to do at night is go out with a flash light and I can see hundreds of rodents eyes. You may want to do that yourself. Then there are smaller snakes that live off bugs etc like garter snakes. You also need to familiarize yourself with head shapes of snakes. I remember once my husband was out in the field and ran screaming rattle snake get the dogs away from that area. Rattle snakes are not very common up here so I was skeptical. I went out to look and it was a 7 foot gopher snake. You don't see them that often that large. Their markings are pretty close to rattlers and they move their tail in a way that it sounds close to one by hitting grass. Yet, they do not have a rattle nor a viper head. Their head looks more like the one of a lizzard. One that size can pose a problem to eggs, but they are not that common. Best is to have a tight coop, because in the outside run the birds can get a way. I see your worry about snakes, but then they are not more often coming around then a skunk would. I think we sometimes fear things more, just because we don't know them. Katharina