I have a raptor that hangs around my house. My pullets are now too big for it to hunt, but today it tried to go after my 9 week silkies, who were in an enclosed garden. Scared the heck out of all the chickens though. I found all 5 of the big girls huddled under a large box wood and the silkies wedged a crevice on the side. The silkies were squawking their heads off, but the big girls knew to be quiet and invisible. One silkie even managed to hurt herself (I think???) and had a drop of blood hanging from her beak. I checked her over and didn't see any wounds, so I'm guessing in her panic, she scraped herself against the rock she was trying to hide under .
The oddest chicken behavior I've seen was once when the raptor came and all the girls scattered, but then my two orloffs found a high perch on the window and stood facing the raptor which was about 100 ft away - couldn't figure out why.
They are usually pretty good at spotting a waiting raptor, if I ever see them stiffen, trill and then run for cover, I can be sure there's a raptor waiting close up.
I'm worried, but not too worried as we do have quite a bit of ground cover
And as scary as these incidents should seem, I find it rather fascinating...
The oddest chicken behavior I've seen was once when the raptor came and all the girls scattered, but then my two orloffs found a high perch on the window and stood facing the raptor which was about 100 ft away - couldn't figure out why.
They are usually pretty good at spotting a waiting raptor, if I ever see them stiffen, trill and then run for cover, I can be sure there's a raptor waiting close up.
I'm worried, but not too worried as we do have quite a bit of ground cover
And as scary as these incidents should seem, I find it rather fascinating...
