I was walking along our road this evening with my son, looking for fox grapes. From our coop I hear the egg song and I thought someone new had just laid her first egg. But though it was the egg song it was more frantic. My husband happened to be out by the coop so I asked him who was that. He said it was our two Australorps. They had spotted a hawk and were sounding the alarm. I don't know how in the world they could have seen it. They were in their run and they have a black shade cloth over it. My husband said the bird had a wingspan of about 16" to 18" and was pretty low. It had a whitish breast. I'm not sure what it could have been. The rest of the girls ran in the coop but the two Australorps stayed outside and kept calling. I'm pretty impressed by those two.
My cockerel, Wyatt, just did this yesterday. I was very impressed with him. He did this specific call and the hens went diving into the woods the fastest that I've ever seen. Even the ducks went to attention from a nap under the tree. He stood guard until all was well. It was a giant heron. Very beautiful. I was proud that he protected his girls. Now if he would just leave them alone until they are mature!
Yeah...hawks are coming out of the woodwork around here for some reason. Don't know whether it's the cooler weather or what. My lead hen is a BA, and she acts similar to a rooster in her protective mannerisms, with the calls and all.
I happen to have 5 roosters right now, and four of them are bantam breeds. ALL five alert to suspicious aerial things. Simultaneously. Sometimes it's a crow, or a hawk, a helicopter or an airplane. One of the Silver Sebrights also alerts to the jay flying over to steal kibble from the cat's food dish. (It's on a platform so the dogs and ducks don't devour it.) My dominant rooster makes a warning sound, not the Alarm Alert, when my largest cat saunters by. It's more of a "head's up - we've got company" sound, because the cat isn't the least bit interested in any of them.
