Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I witnessed an heroic act: Charlie the bantam Buff Brahma roo protecting the open pasture next to my yard from the ravages of an evil blue jay.
This blue jay steals kibble from the outside cats' food dish, where I keep it up high on a carpeted platform so the dogs won't get it. So far, the chickens haven't hopped up there to sample it, because my largest indoor/outdoor cat suns himself on the first level of the platform. The chickens respect him, but are not afraid of him at all. He wanders through the flock regularly.
Charlie hates the thieving jay. He alerts every time it swoops by.
The property on which I live is one full acre, with the land-lady's house and yard covering the "front" third, my house and yards are in the middle third, and the last third of an acre is adjacent to my yards and is used for nothing other than the land-lady's three pet Barbados sheep to wander and graze (when there's edible growth back there). They meander past my house multiple times a day. The chickens often graze with them in the land-lady's yard, and do not move out of the way when the sheep pass. The sheep have to walk AROUND my chickens.
Anyway, the blue jay flew away from the cat food platform around the house into the open pasture area. (We call it the "back forty.") Charlie had been near the cat food platform when this particular theft occurred, and he took off in that Brahma run, around the corner of the yard into the back forty.
Head down, beak forward, he charged that jay. Which promptly flew straight up and off to one side a few feet, then landed again. Charlie changed direction and charged again. This went on for several minutes until I walked up to the fence to cheer my hero onward. My presence made the jay take off and fly totally out of the yards into a tall tree on the fence line. Charlie stood up, flapped his wings and crowed a big, triumphant crow.
Wish I'd had a video camera!
This is my Charlie.
He's next to the bottom of the rooster pecking order of 5.
I noticed last night he's starting to get some longer tail feathers; the photo is about a week old.
This blue jay steals kibble from the outside cats' food dish, where I keep it up high on a carpeted platform so the dogs won't get it. So far, the chickens haven't hopped up there to sample it, because my largest indoor/outdoor cat suns himself on the first level of the platform. The chickens respect him, but are not afraid of him at all. He wanders through the flock regularly.
Charlie hates the thieving jay. He alerts every time it swoops by.
The property on which I live is one full acre, with the land-lady's house and yard covering the "front" third, my house and yards are in the middle third, and the last third of an acre is adjacent to my yards and is used for nothing other than the land-lady's three pet Barbados sheep to wander and graze (when there's edible growth back there). They meander past my house multiple times a day. The chickens often graze with them in the land-lady's yard, and do not move out of the way when the sheep pass. The sheep have to walk AROUND my chickens.
Anyway, the blue jay flew away from the cat food platform around the house into the open pasture area. (We call it the "back forty.") Charlie had been near the cat food platform when this particular theft occurred, and he took off in that Brahma run, around the corner of the yard into the back forty.
Head down, beak forward, he charged that jay. Which promptly flew straight up and off to one side a few feet, then landed again. Charlie changed direction and charged again. This went on for several minutes until I walked up to the fence to cheer my hero onward. My presence made the jay take off and fly totally out of the yards into a tall tree on the fence line. Charlie stood up, flapped his wings and crowed a big, triumphant crow.
Wish I'd had a video camera!
This is my Charlie.
He's next to the bottom of the rooster pecking order of 5.
I noticed last night he's starting to get some longer tail feathers; the photo is about a week old.
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