My visitor this morning

[Ron in Sebring]

Brave little sucker....

 

[sourland]

They're migrating and are hungry - guard your birds.

 

[Ron in Sebring]

I got within 5 feet of him and he just sat there looking at me

 

[jeepgrrl]

I’m glad you were there to thwart any attempt on your flock! Hawks are very bold creatures, indeed. I had one a couple of years ago that beheaded my Blue Amerucana, then came back a few hours later to brazenly roost on the roof of the chicken run where I had locked up the remaining hens, sending them into a frenzy of terror. It just looked at me when I hollered and waved my arms at it; it took a bullet shot into a dead tree to finally scare him off. Earlier today, my girls lucked out...a migrating hawk was deterred from snagging one my girls by my obnoxiously boisterous guinea cock (so he is good for something, lol). It’s a very stressful time of year for chicken keepers and their flocks!

 

[Ron in Sebring]

Was gonna put an owl decoy out but maybe I should look into guinea fowl!
He eventually figured out that they weren’t coming out to play and took off...will have to keep an eye out more often I guess.

 

[jeepgrrl]

Was gonna put an owl decoy out but maybe I should look into guinea fowl!
He eventually figured out that they weren’t coming out to play and took off...will have to keep an eye out more often I guess.

I have a couple of decoy owls that I move around. I’m not sure if they work or not, but at least I feel better having some sort of deterrent out there. Having guinea fowl...yeah, I’m pretty sure I would never have acquired any on my own, but this boy showed up on July 5th and never left. I tried unsuccessfully to rehome him, but the flock seemed to accept him for the most part, so here he resides. But hey, if he’s a good flock protector, he can stay no matter how noisy and looney he is, lol!

 

[cmom]

Is your pen covered?

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Is your pen covered?
View attachment 2342414

I was hoping someone would post that picture! Decoys are great perches for raptors!

 

[Ron in Sebring]

Lol...nice.
And yes it is...thankfully.