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 During May, after much debate and delay we finally took possession of some chickens. They are “Gallinas Andaluz Sureño Negro” something that has become a rare breed of chickens from Andalusia as other types have gained in popularity. We collected a cockerel and a hen from the Zoobotanico in Jerez de la Frontera as they are breeding this pure race to promote old breeds and increase their numbers. The two of them were about 3 months old, virtually all black with a green sheen and quite handsome. We also collected 3 little chicks that were still going to need a heat lamp at night!
The older two settled into their new corral well and we kept the tiny chicks in a mobile cage so that we could bring them in at night to plug in their lamp for warmth. As they grew a little larger we introduced them to the larger pair and gradually got them used to running free but in a different pen unless we were there to oversee. The problem of leaving them to run free together was that the tiny chicks’ yellow feet looked like grubs that the cockerel really wanted to eat!
A week later on going into the corral I was alerted by a loud hissing noise and saw that it was being emitted from a very large snake caught up in the fine wire mesh fence! There was really no way that this snake was going to get in through the fence but it had incredible determination and had pushed past the widest point of its head, unfortunately with top and bottom jaws in different holes. Most indignant, scared and exposed it kept up the hissing, a common trait for a Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus).
Clive was summonsed urgently with the finest and sharpest scissors in hand. Delicately he cut the wire that was pressed tight into its scales. The snake pulled and hissed all the more.  It then writhed showing us its full body size that was previously hidden in long grass.
No less than 2metres in length with the widest girth that I have seen in any wild snake around, about 7 cms in diameter. It would have had no problem eating all three chicks…had they been there and had it succeeded in gaining entry.
Two days later I was in the corral and was quite upset to smell rotting flesh, I was so sure that the Montpellier snake had received minimal damage, only a small cut inside its mouth from the sharp point of cut wire as it drew back. I began to think that maybe the stress was too much. It had been there no more than half an hour as Clive had just fed the chickens. So I tracked down the buzzing flies to discover an intricate, bright orange, Latticed Stinkhorn fungus (Clathrus ruber) which emits a terrible stench, it seems the snake is ok.
So the grasses have been cut away from the fence line to expose any would be chicken thieves and we will lock the little chicks away each night until they are much bigger!
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speak soon xxx