Too Close for Comfort

My Guardian Angel worked a bit of overtime Saturday.  I've had roughly the same routine for nearly 4 years.  First things first, let all the girls out for the day.  Nothing new, and typically the same noisy girls as always, hurry up and let me out!  I make a quick run around the entire coop area to see what if anything needs tending, and I found another dead hen.  This is the 3rd in three weeks.    Not a good day.

We believed it was likely due to the excessive heat and humidity this early in the season.  No other apparent signs, no coughing, bubbly eyes, etc. 

I took care of burying our hen and headed back to the coop.  I began by emptying the first feeder (the only thing left it in by this time is powder).  As you can see in this photo the orange cord is what holds the feeder.  Next to it is a water gutter from a previous idea/attempt to collect rain water.


 
I bent down to empty the feeder and when I came back up,  what I later learned, a deadly poisonous water moccasin sat curled up and ready to strike only 3-4" from my face!    If you felt the earth move or a strange noise off in the distance early Saturday, that was me!  Running and screaming like a girl! 

Here's the culprit, and what I now believe the cause of our hens dying.

It was not a small one.  Although any size snake is too big for me!