So Yesterday I and the chickens got scared out of our wits!
Since it's spring all of the hawks have moved back in and started building nests so I've been cautious letting the chickens free range when I'm not out there with them. It was sunny for once yesterday so I let the chickens out to free-range and I went inside to do some work on the computer. Suddenly my mom yelled out "HAWK!". Before I could run out there the hawk took off, but my mom said it was a RT. My mom wasn't sure if the hawk took a chicken with him, but there was a lot of blue feathers in the middle of the yard! Everyone was under bushes and hiding except for Yeti, my young white silkie who was "playing dead" out in the open
At first I though she was dead and was the hawk victim but she was fine. Seriously though, that bird is not going to last long if she keeps acting the way she is. Anyway everyone was hiding, My rooster, Zebbie, was clucking like mad. Since there were blue feathers I knew I was one of two birds, Vera or Violet. I saw Violet hiding under a bush with Zebb so I knew it must be Vera.
I was so close to crying when Vera ran out of a bush and into a coop! I was really happy but then confused, then who got attacked? Then I took a closer look at Violet. Her feathers were ruffled, she looked dazed, and she had blood on her face! I brought her inside cleaned her up and checked her over. Thankfully she only had some minor cuts on her face and comb. I put her in the dog crate for the night to let her re-cooperate. She's fine today and is back in the coop.
It put things into perspective for me and I will be covering the run and only let them have supervised free-range time. It's funny, just the other day my mom and I were discussing hawks and how Red Tails usually don't take chickens. Of course the hawk had to go for one of the two hens out. I mean really, there were 10 juicy little cockerels out running around! Or a dumb little white silkie! I'm glad there were no deaths, but it scared the heck out of me!
Since it's spring all of the hawks have moved back in and started building nests so I've been cautious letting the chickens free range when I'm not out there with them. It was sunny for once yesterday so I let the chickens out to free-range and I went inside to do some work on the computer. Suddenly my mom yelled out "HAWK!". Before I could run out there the hawk took off, but my mom said it was a RT. My mom wasn't sure if the hawk took a chicken with him, but there was a lot of blue feathers in the middle of the yard! Everyone was under bushes and hiding except for Yeti, my young white silkie who was "playing dead" out in the open
I was so close to crying when Vera ran out of a bush and into a coop! I was really happy but then confused, then who got attacked? Then I took a closer look at Violet. Her feathers were ruffled, she looked dazed, and she had blood on her face! I brought her inside cleaned her up and checked her over. Thankfully she only had some minor cuts on her face and comb. I put her in the dog crate for the night to let her re-cooperate. She's fine today and is back in the coop.
It put things into perspective for me and I will be covering the run and only let them have supervised free-range time. It's funny, just the other day my mom and I were discussing hawks and how Red Tails usually don't take chickens. Of course the hawk had to go for one of the two hens out. I mean really, there were 10 juicy little cockerels out running around! Or a dumb little white silkie! I'm glad there were no deaths, but it scared the heck out of me!
