Crazy hawk story Wantedman. I had similar issues with Hawks in Bethany taking out a few of my girls. I stopped free ranging because of that. However, While I have a nice sized coop and run, I really miss watching my chickens be chickens free ranging. My kids call it "chicken TV". I'm giving some serious consideration to adding in one or two of those midget white turkeys Apdeb is talking about to my flock of 8.
Update:
My olive egger had a bout of blood covered eggs (5in a row). Got me a little scared that something was seriously wrong considering the amount of blood which was more than a smear. Other posts on here said not to worry, this happens occasionally . Anyway, she took a day off from laying then everything went back to normal.
My buff Orpington hen who stopped laying in late September early October after a molt began laying again. We laugh because for such a large hen, her eggs are only clocking in in the low 60 gm range whereas our smaller girls lay larger eggs than she does. We're now averaging 4-5 eggs per day from our 8 girls. Hope everyone else's production picks up as the day length increases.
Well the good thing is I won't have too worry about that particular hawk any more.