A little friend pays us an unexpected visit

Yesterday afternoon we returned from taking a family hike at a park in the southern end of the country to find a very small turtle hanging out by the drain in the driveway.

After ooh-ing and ahhhh-ing over the little guy (or girl), I took him over to the edge of the woodsline where we have a fair amount of overgrowth (for protection) and let him there.

This morning, I took a work call outside only to see our little fella (or a sibling?) by the drain again. 

After doing a little research, I think we have a Red-Bellied Cooter. I'm a little skeptical because the DNR website says they typically live in coastal plain rivers and floodplain marshes.  We aren't all that close to either of those.

We need to figure out how to keep the chickens away from him.  It's already tough enough to do so with the toads we periodically find here.  This will be truly difficult. 

I'll have to pray extra hard that I don't accidentally find him with the mower, car, or step on him.  😢