Saturday late afternoon my wife and I were fixing up the back deck table to have dinner. We have a large side yard that you can see about 5/8ths of from where we were. In order to get the most out of this you have to have the picture in your head first. I am in shorts, with a tee shirt, also wearing a pair of almost neon green crocs. I am holding a big spatula that is about 8" long that I use for grilling.
So my wife is cleaning the table, I am facing her with my back to the side yard. All of a sudden we hear this horrendous squawk, long and pealing, from one of my girls. My wife looks up and shouts hawk. One of my RIR's were running hell bent for election toward a covering of a lilac hedge at the edge of the yard.
She was being chased by a hawk mid air. I turned around just in time to see the hawk with it's wings spread and looking like it is hugging the hedge. They both disappear into the hedge. When I saw the hawk, I ran screaming all the way there, the spatula held in my hand like a tomahawk. I barreled full speed into the lilac hedge just to the right of where the chook and hawk went into. I made it through the hedge and falling on my knees; my glasses somewhere in front of me. I saw the hawk fly off but without glasses that was all I saw, a grey flying object.
After recovery of my glasses we start trying to assess the damages to my girls. We have 15 RIR's that are within a few weeks of laying. My first flock. We have never had a hawk attack, and since we didn't know that a hawk could probably not carry off an almost full grown chicken........... When we got everyone found (They scattered and hid under something) we could only find 14 birds. I was seriously bummed.
We searched for about 2 hours thinking that MAYBE just MAYBE she was under a bush somewhere outside the yard.
No such luck. We ate dinner, and the girls were not heading toward the coop like they normally would when it is getting dusk toward dark. So we walk down to the coop; and sure enough all of them start heading for us and then into the coop. All 14.
They slowly got into the coop and I shut it up for the night. My wife and I we are still around the coop, rehashing the attack and what might have happened and how. About 15 minutes later almost dark, my wife said "Shhhh. I heard wings." I told her "No it was the dog brushing up against the lilac hedge." A few minutes later, there came a bbbbrrrrraaaaaawwwwwwkkkkkkkkk. And here comes the lone ranger around from the front of the house looking like "What's up with you people. My door is closed"
Thank you Lord. We got real happy, real fast. The only damage was to my knees from the rock I fell into and the bird we found that was attacked. She had a few feathers sticking out from her side and breast. Oh and a few lilac bushes (8ft tall) didn't do well with a 180lb man landing on them. My wife said in view of what happened she wouldn't hold it against me.
We laughed all the next day about the wild man running off the deck with a spatula held like a tomahawk, screaming like a banshee, ready to light into a hawk in a lilac hedge.
Guess ya had to be there. It were really funny.
So my wife is cleaning the table, I am facing her with my back to the side yard. All of a sudden we hear this horrendous squawk, long and pealing, from one of my girls. My wife looks up and shouts hawk. One of my RIR's were running hell bent for election toward a covering of a lilac hedge at the edge of the yard.
After recovery of my glasses we start trying to assess the damages to my girls. We have 15 RIR's that are within a few weeks of laying. My first flock. We have never had a hawk attack, and since we didn't know that a hawk could probably not carry off an almost full grown chicken........... When we got everyone found (They scattered and hid under something) we could only find 14 birds. I was seriously bummed.
We laughed all the next day about the wild man running off the deck with a spatula held like a tomahawk, screaming like a banshee, ready to light into a hawk in a lilac hedge.
