- May 3, 2012
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I'm new to chickens. Our chickens are 8 1/2 weeks old. They are almost full size, not chicks anymore. When I was putting them in the coop last night, I encountered two black snakes outside the coop. My husband and I decided not to kill them, since our chickens aren't laying eggs yet; we have buried fencing around the bottom of the coop and have closed any holes that might allow varmits to get inside. And we read from "BackYard Chickens" that snakes do not eat chickens. This morning my husband went to let the chickens out to range and found one chicken dead. It's neck was twisted and wet, like it had been swallowed up to its breasts and then abandoned because it was too big for the snake to swallow. Now what? Should we kill the snakes? or assume that this is a fluke and keep the snakes around the feed to kill mice.