Something killing baby chicks!! Help

[Welsh Ducky]

A week ago when I came In morning to let my 7wk old chicks out of their coop, one of my Cochins was laying on the ground, dead. She looked completely fine except her neck was damp, like something swallowed it and spit it out. Day after that we found a black rat snake in the coop and guessed it had tried to eat it but the body was too big so it regurgitated it..we moved it to a different part on our 18acre property (I know we should’ve killed it..) but apparently it wasn't far enough because two nights after that the same thing happens to a buff Orpington chick. We set up glue traps with eggs and have been bringing the chicks to sleep in the garage at night. We caught the snake two days ago and my dad killed it (it was the same one because it had a couple missing scales on its side.)
We let the chicks sleep in the coop at night after that, until this morning I found my speckled Sussex chick dead, the exact same way.
Could there be another snake? How do we get rid of it? We are crushed that we already lost 3 chicks (two of which were our favorites) we can’t bare to loose another
Thanks in advance.

 

[so lucky]

It sounds like your coop is not secure. You need to go over it with the idea that a snake can get through a small hole, high or low. Any opening bigger than a penny needs to have hardware cloth over it. (Protect from mice, as well)

 

[MelissaRose]

Sorry for your losses!

 

[cmom]

Sorry for your losses. There is a place where the snakes can get in and they have apparently found it. Hardware cloth is a good way to block the access once you figure out how they are getting in.