rattlesnake and rabbit

I was pulling weeds on the north side of my driveway when my dog started barking, when I looked at him I saw this rattlesnake , head sticking up 8 or so inches, luckily it was outside the gate, we had put chicken wire on it so our birds could run free. I called my husband to get his gun I first called my dog to come to me, which he did. after it was shot we found the rabbit dying. My husband did the humane thing and finished the rabbit. He has gotten 7 rattlesnakes since we lived here , all this size. I have cooked all 7 of them but refuse to eat. we were cleaning one and it's head was gone skin pulled half way off when my husband asked me to hold the meat while he finished pulling skin off. I was holding it in the middle and the damn dead ass snake was striking my arm, and hitting pretty hard. now that is freaky. The first rattler he got, our turkeys were in a circle around something and making a strange noise the chickens were behind the turkeys and jumping in the air trying to see what was there so my husband walked over to see what was going on and the snake was tangled in some garden fence.