After that taste of freedom, they made another break for it. This time exploiting a weakness in my door design. Thad and Dwayne rounded them up. I found out about it later.
About 6 PM I went down to gather eggs and give them their evening feed. I had noticed 6 eggs earlier. When I went to the first nesting box there was about 8 inches of black snake tail hanging out. Like any good blogger, I first went to get my camera. I also grabbed a box and a pole. I removed the snake, which turned out to be a very fat black rat snake, and put it in the box.
I turned around and the chickens had taken advantage of my preoccupation and were grazing outside again. Who could blame them? I was wrestling a big black snake in their coop.
The chickens went back easily. Three of the six eggs remained. And, I relocated the 6-foot black snake to a chicken free home. Farm life is wonderful....