That's a nice lookin' rat snake, rouxcrew. And yep, those are beneficial in my opinion. (and most folks would kill them mistaking them for copperheads; I'm happy ya'll know the difference)
Vic, I sure have had my troubles this past year with black snakes eating my eggs, even my baby bunny kits. Grrr. But still I've held my temper and just hauled them out of the coop or rabbit pens and carried them away. Still can't bring myself to kill a black snake, or rat snake, any more than I could kill a lady bug or praying mantis.
Dave, my coop was set up like yours years ago with 3 pens off each side. I know, I know, I should've had 4 sides but space/location didn't allow it. Unfortunately my coop is located in a woodsy area and I could never consider any of those sides a garden area. But I did rotate chickens for years until I started raising too many different breeds and had to keep them isolated from each other to preserve their blood lines...that was the demise of my rotational system and it allowed my "grazing areas" to become bare. Now that I am no longer keeping 100-200 chickens at a time I'm sure my various pens will grow up again.
Shoe (who thinks you'd benefit from at least one more outdoor area in your rotation)
