Summer predators running rampant!

[capt toad]

Well, about two hours ago, this nasty, miserable, lop-jawed, cross-eyed, critter.. OK, it was a beautiful, very large, Red-Tailed hawk, but it flew right into the middle of my chicken compound and landed on top of the poor Australorp hen that just missed being fox poop in April! The hen squealed, Cinder, the young rooster dove on the hawk's back and grabbed a beak-full of wing joint and a hundred-eighty pound, ****** off white boy drop-kicked his Red-Tailed butt back over the fence. The rooster's still dizzy and the hen lost some fletching, but they're both alive and 'Lucky' the hawk is too. Lucky, I wasn't packing a pistol

 

[N F C]

That was a close call! Glad everyone is ok.

We have a lot of hawks in our area too, that's why our girls stay in a big enclosed run that has a sun shade top over it. I wouldn't feel like I could ever leave them alone outside. We also have a lot of dogs in our area (some owned by neighbors and some strays). We've caught a opossum in one trap close to the coop. And at least twice now a raccoon has tried to get into the coop at night.

The world can be a scary dangerous place when your a chicken!