I was woke up this morning by the call of a chicken in distress. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. I saw a hawk on top of one of my serama roo. It was Little Guy the flock leader of this group of chickens. He was not moving. I opened the window yelling at it. The hawk tried to fly away with him but couldn't get off the ground with the rooster. It stopped not wanting to let go of his prize and looked at me. Now I am not really nuts but still half asleep and not thinking of anything but saving Little Guy I jumped right out of the window barefoot and in my PJs. The window is under a half a story up. When the hawk saw me hanging out of the window it flew away leaving Little Guy there. He was laying there not moving at all. I was sure he was dead. As I was running to him he started to flop around. By the time I got to him he was trying to walk but was very unsteady he kept falling over and walking side ways. When I picked him he was still so scared he started to make the stress call again. I calmed him down then checked him out. Other then little marks from the talons he is OK and I will have a big black and blue on my arm. Somehow I must of scraped it as I jumped out the window. I don't remember but as I was typing this I noticed that my arm was sore. I looked to see a big mark on my forearm. A very small price to pay to save Little Guy. This time I was lucky. My husband had let them out when he got up this morning. I have to keep telling myself that the hawks are just doing what they have to for them to live, but I wish they would not always take the one I like the best. It is a price I have to pay to let the chickens be free and not always penned up. There are a lot of places for them to hid and they are very good at it. I also have dogs that protect them and peafowl who hate hawks. When they see hawks they always start calling and strutting if the hawk is on the ground they will run right after it. If it is in the trees they always go right up to the tree strutting and watching it. Even with all this to help the hawks still sometime get one.
