We just had the scare of our lives. Tom has just walked in the door with a couple of grocery bags when I heard the most ungodly scream from a chicken. As I ran out the kitchen door, I saw a Cooper's Hawk *could have been a Sharp Shinned, now that I recall the tail was squared off, not rounded* flying inside the covered pen with Brandy and the four chicks, trying to get out, apparently I only got the most fleeting impression of Brandy jumping at the hawk and by the time we were down the steps, there were no birds at all in the pen. Brandy and the chicks, thankfully all four, were inside, safe. The babies were huddled under the nest box, scared to death and Brandy was pacing, making this guttural sound in her throat. Where the wire covering of the pen goes to the front of the building, there is a gap less than a foot wide (not attached to the building) and that hawk got into and out of the pen that way. I've never seen one do that. I've seen one hanging on the outside of the fencing in the past, after the Belgian D'Anvers, but this was a first.
Brandy saved herself and all her chicks. I'll never forget that sound she made. Tom thought the hawk flew into the pop door after her, but apparently not. There's nowhere in that small coop for it to hide.
