Chickens, wrens, and snakes, oh my!

Everywhere I turn there are animals... chickens, dog, mice, snakes, baby wren... and believe it or not we're trying to find a barn cat to top it all off!  Above is a typical evening in our yard... Justin is trying to make a home-made hot air balloon, and the chickens are gathered around to watch with the kids.  

We love the chickens... if only we could train them to not poop on the sidewalks and in the garage!  

Here is a rejected baby wren I've lovingly named Einstein because of his very cool hairdo.  He's comfortably protected near the nest where his siblings are happily living at over twice his size.  I'm hoping with some extra TLC he'll pull through (I'm calling him a "he" but he might be a "she").  

Lastly, I was excited to have the chance to capture this sneaky fellow with my camera today.  

C'mon snake! There are field mice galore around here!  

Why do you have to go for the eggs?

Between molting chickens and this persistent snake, we have had very low egg production lately.  Luckily, our "chicks" are starting to lay their first eggs!  We have gotten three white eggs from a leghorn so far.  Can't wait to see the chocolate brown eggs from the other chicks before long.

Any ideas for getting a black rat snake to stop getting in our nesting boxes?  (I wish it was as simple as posting a sign that says "No snakes allowed!")  I had fun getting him down with a hooked pole; I tried to get him into a bucket, but he was much to big and slithery to accomplish such a task, and off he slithered into the garden.