I heard a chicken commotion out front this afternoon and ran out to see a hawk fly away. It flew straight to the east and I could see it go a long way. It had no white on it. I got the chickens back in their run, but one of the Spitzhauben girls was missing. I found feathers, called DH. He said if the hawk didn't carry the chicken away, then she's out here somewhere, hiding, or injured, or dead. We couldn't find her. Then at dusk there she was on top of the coop, looking fine. I opened it back up and she came down and went in.
No one will get to free range for quite a while.....
What kind of hawks or other raptors are all dark? It almost looked blue. OK, I see there's a Swainson's hawk that has a dark morph phase, mostly out west but western MO is in their range. Maybe that was it....
So I still have my 2 pullets.
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