Is this thing coming after my chickens?

[tomatillo]

Quote:
Me either, great pics! Good luck with your flock!

Thanks so much. It was a very clear morning with a really blue Texas sky, and I was able to get really close with my Canon camera I bought for $47 at a garage sale!

Got lucky.

Now the video I took of it on another day is really funny and not good at all. It could not get out of my yard because it was having trouble flying high enough to get over the fence, and I chased it around with my camera. Since it is a roadrunner, it is obviously difficult to keep up with and I was chasing it around my yard filming it.

 

[SkyeBleu]

To : tomatillo

LOVE your picture of your snake.

I have some in my garden too but not as pretty as that one. The biggest one I call Sneaky Snake because he startles me and himself when I am working in the beds.

I was researching your screen name. Some people say No to feeding ground cherry to chickens aka tomatillo others say okay. Have you fed yours any? I have lots in garden this year.

Skye

 

[mickeymousears]

Aw I love roadrunners!! We rarely see them here Eventhough they are supposidly native to this area. I know they eat small animals so I would have your babies protected just in case. They look pretty big for a road runner to take but everyone is always looking for an easy meal - better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Chick15]

Quote:
haha.. love your cowboy!

 

[toochicky]

Definitely looks like a Greater Roadrunner! Be very careful, they do eat small mammals. They can kill their prey by bashing the bodies against the side of rocks with their beak or by holding it in their mouth and bashing. So, him hanging around your rocks near your chickens is a red flag.

Very pretty though. Great photos!

**Just saw your chicks, I think they are little big for it to be an actual red flag. I reiterate with a yellow flag warning. hehe **

 

[AuberyMirkwood]

That road runner would be a menace to chicks but I would would say your girls are safe They only go after things they can swallow as a rule.

 

[tomatillo]

Quote:
Since tomatillos are not actually unripe green tomatoes, I would think it is fine but I am not totally sure about that. A tomatillo is ripe when it is green, so I think it is OK.

But my chickens do not care for them at all.

Do you make salsa verde?

Here is a quick easy recipe:

boil about 10 ripe tomatillos in about a couple of inches of water (I do this in my wok) with a few cloves of garlic and a chili pepper, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, chop a handful of cilantro with about half and onion, add salt and pepper and squeeze lime on it, and kind of stir it up.

After the tomatillos look like they are about to burst, take them off the heat and drain. Let them kind of cool off a little while. Add the tomatillos, chili, and garlic to the bowl of cilantro and onion. Then put in food processor or blender.

Yum! Over fish/chicken/or with chips.

 

[tomatillo]

Thanks everyone for your opinions.

I just went in my backyard and looked out in the field behind my house, AND THERE IT WAS. I saw it earlier today, too. I think it has a nest close by. It really seems to trying to fit in with our little eco-system, rather than destroy it. And I really think it would have eaten the chickens by now. I think it is feasting on mice, and I think it ate my yard snake because I have not seen it since the roadrunner showed up. And the snake liked to hang out in those rocks. My neighbors have a large bucket of water for wlidlife behind their fence, which is the yard to the left of mine. They also feed the deer, and that feed attracts mice. I saw the roadrunner right behind their fence today by a dead tree that has a lot of brush around it. I think it may have a nest right there. A few weeks ago, I was seeing so many mice because of this drought, and lately I have not seen any. So I am liking the roadrunner, but hoping it stays away from my 2 little ones that are so sweet and tame.

 

[tomatillo]

Well, now I have 2 in my backyard. So, apparantly I have a roadrunner couple, and I think they are nesting close to my house. And hunting in my backyard. Yesterday, I looked out there and one of them had something in its mouth that I thought was my chicken's head. I chased it thinking it had killed one of my small chickens. It dropped what it had caught and I think it was actually a mouse. And then I saw my little hens.

They were both in my yard a few minutes ago and I think they would have killed my chickens by now if they wanted to. I see them so often now that I am sure they are in my yard all the time. Part of my flock.

 

[toochicky]

You know... you have to name them now!