I walked out of my house on Thursday afternoon to see my mille fleur hen racing away from her run screaming. Typically she never leaves the run but had figured out how to scoot under the gate. Luckily she did (and took her four babies), went to the stone wall and hid in the bushes. When I walked up to the tractor - this is what I saw:
A hawk in the tractor with it's wings spread. I could see a bird underneath it struggling to get free. I ran around to the back of the coop and sure enough, there was a hawk on Lenny, my adult mille fleur roo. The pic is hard to see, but you can just barely make out the hawk's head:
I couldn't get the screen off, and no matter how much I banged on the coop, threw water and snow on the hawk, it would not leave Lenny.
We had a snow the night before and when I went out in the morning I had knocked all the snow off the mesh covering over the run and fastened up any part that has fallen down. Obviously during the morning with the wind and snow, a portion of the netting came down again. This hawk must have been waiting for the snow and struck the minute the netting fell. This is the third time this tractor has been hit. Twice last year and now this. My free rangers are never bothered by the hawk, my bantam coop is never bothered by it, it always seems to focus on this one coop. After we lost the hens last year DH constructed a frame and covered the backside and top with chicken wire. The sides were covered with deer netting so I could get in to clean, etc.
My poor Lenny - he did what a wonderful little roo should do and gave his life protecting his hen and their four babies (three hens and a roo).
Lenny and Maury with Lila and Mimi. (Mimi was taken last winter by the hawk.)
DH spend yesterday covering the remaining area of the run with chicken wire to protect the survivors from any further hawk attacks.
There are some days when it makes you wonder if it is all worth it. Watching my little roo be kiilled, then to hear the feeding was almost too much to bear.
A hawk in the tractor with it's wings spread. I could see a bird underneath it struggling to get free. I ran around to the back of the coop and sure enough, there was a hawk on Lenny, my adult mille fleur roo. The pic is hard to see, but you can just barely make out the hawk's head:
I couldn't get the screen off, and no matter how much I banged on the coop, threw water and snow on the hawk, it would not leave Lenny.
We had a snow the night before and when I went out in the morning I had knocked all the snow off the mesh covering over the run and fastened up any part that has fallen down. Obviously during the morning with the wind and snow, a portion of the netting came down again. This hawk must have been waiting for the snow and struck the minute the netting fell. This is the third time this tractor has been hit. Twice last year and now this. My free rangers are never bothered by the hawk, my bantam coop is never bothered by it, it always seems to focus on this one coop. After we lost the hens last year DH constructed a frame and covered the backside and top with chicken wire. The sides were covered with deer netting so I could get in to clean, etc.
My poor Lenny - he did what a wonderful little roo should do and gave his life protecting his hen and their four babies (three hens and a roo).
DH spend yesterday covering the remaining area of the run with chicken wire to protect the survivors from any further hawk attacks.
There are some days when it makes you wonder if it is all worth it. Watching my little roo be kiilled, then to hear the feeding was almost too much to bear.
