So...This happened yesterday. 
4:00 PM - Lemon and I heard the chickens squawking, Lemon went to take a look, said she didn't see anything.
5:45 PM - Lemon and I went to bury Orangey, our Orange snail who was sadly murdered by our Pleco. (Some could say it was just a snail, but I loved him. May he forever rest in peace.)
While we were out there, I glanced over and saw this huge bird on the chicken tractor in the chicken run. Glancing at Lemon, I wondered if it was a bird of prey. Lemon said: "No, it's just Cupcake. She's a big chicken, you know."
I was pretty doubtful but went inside while Lemon put in the chickens.
Lemon came running back a few minutes later, pale as a ghost as she tells me that there is an "eagle" in the chicken coop.
I was surprisingly calm as I went out to see what she was talking about. When we reached the coop, a large hawk was flying around, trying to get out. He had somehow gotten into the run, I'm guessing through the holes in the bird netting that covers it, and now he was stuck. We quickly did a headcount of our chickens, and, praise be to our most Heavenly King, every single chicken was alive and safe!
Now that we knew that all of our pets were safe and accounted for, we had to work on figuring out how to get the poor hawk out safely. We knew that birds of prey were really quite dangerous, so we thought it would be best to leave this to the specialists. We also saw that one of the hawk's wings looked injured, as he seemed to have trouble using it. We didn't want to cause more damage, and we were horrified when it tried to escape once more and got its legs trapped in the bird netting so that it was hanging upside down. Both person and hawk were terribly distressed.
I ran up to the house to figure out who to call while Lemon kept an eye on it.
I frantically searched, but couldn't find anything, so I ended up calling the police to ask them who to call. (I was that distressed.) They directed me to the correct person to call, but then there was a phone menu, and I freaked out and hit some random number, which automatically sent me to voicemail. In the end, I was worried that the hawk would get into critical danger if we left it hanging there for too long, so I decided to stop waiting. In an ideal situation, I would have had someone who was a professional to do this, as it would give the hawk the best chance, but we couldn't wait. So I grabbed a kitchen knife, a pair of scissors, and two oven gloves and ran down to the coop. (Yes, oven gloves. I promise we didn't cook the hawk.)
Lemon cut some of the bird netting away, and the hawk disappeared. We're guessing that it flew away, but it was hard to see in the dark. I pray that the poor animal wasn't terribly injured and that he'll be able to recover soon from any wounds or trauma from the experience.
Anyway...it was an extremely stressful night yesterday, but everyone is thankfully alive, and that's what matters. Praise be to God!
And now, it's time to patch up those holes in the bird netting...
Here are some pictures of the poor creature:
4:00 PM - Lemon and I heard the chickens squawking, Lemon went to take a look, said she didn't see anything.
5:45 PM - Lemon and I went to bury Orangey, our Orange snail who was sadly murdered by our Pleco. (Some could say it was just a snail, but I loved him. May he forever rest in peace.)
While we were out there, I glanced over and saw this huge bird on the chicken tractor in the chicken run. Glancing at Lemon, I wondered if it was a bird of prey. Lemon said: "No, it's just Cupcake. She's a big chicken, you know."
I was pretty doubtful but went inside while Lemon put in the chickens.
Lemon came running back a few minutes later, pale as a ghost as she tells me that there is an "eagle" in the chicken coop.
I was surprisingly calm as I went out to see what she was talking about. When we reached the coop, a large hawk was flying around, trying to get out. He had somehow gotten into the run, I'm guessing through the holes in the bird netting that covers it, and now he was stuck. We quickly did a headcount of our chickens, and, praise be to our most Heavenly King, every single chicken was alive and safe!
Now that we knew that all of our pets were safe and accounted for, we had to work on figuring out how to get the poor hawk out safely. We knew that birds of prey were really quite dangerous, so we thought it would be best to leave this to the specialists. We also saw that one of the hawk's wings looked injured, as he seemed to have trouble using it. We didn't want to cause more damage, and we were horrified when it tried to escape once more and got its legs trapped in the bird netting so that it was hanging upside down. Both person and hawk were terribly distressed.
I ran up to the house to figure out who to call while Lemon kept an eye on it.
I frantically searched, but couldn't find anything, so I ended up calling the police to ask them who to call. (I was that distressed.) They directed me to the correct person to call, but then there was a phone menu, and I freaked out and hit some random number, which automatically sent me to voicemail. In the end, I was worried that the hawk would get into critical danger if we left it hanging there for too long, so I decided to stop waiting. In an ideal situation, I would have had someone who was a professional to do this, as it would give the hawk the best chance, but we couldn't wait. So I grabbed a kitchen knife, a pair of scissors, and two oven gloves and ran down to the coop. (Yes, oven gloves. I promise we didn't cook the hawk.)
Lemon cut some of the bird netting away, and the hawk disappeared. We're guessing that it flew away, but it was hard to see in the dark. I pray that the poor animal wasn't terribly injured and that he'll be able to recover soon from any wounds or trauma from the experience.
Anyway...it was an extremely stressful night yesterday, but everyone is thankfully alive, and that's what matters. Praise be to God!
And now, it's time to patch up those holes in the bird netting...
Here are some pictures of the poor creature:
