UPDATE #14 Roadrunner

[tomatillo]

Quote:
When I got her, she was being sold in a group of 3 with another lemon blue bantam hen and a rooster. I agree, she looks like a roo, but when you see her beside the roo in that group, she does look much different. She acts totally like a hen, too.

But no, I am not completely sure.

Yes, watching out for the roadrunner. I have actually seen it for a few months, but it is getting brave by coming in my yard now.

 

[drumstick diva]

My sister lives in Albuquerque and she sees roadrunners eatings - birds lots of times- consider them a real threat.

 

[tomatillo]

I have noticed it is usually sitting on my fence facing the neighbor's yard. And right on the other side of the fence in the picture is an area where my neighbors feed corn to the deer everday, and also put out water for the deer. I am thinking it is a mouse buffet over there. It seems to just stay in the corner. I have also noticed less mice lately in yard.

 

[tomatillo]

Well, I have seen it all morning in my backyard. It was in my garden earlier. I just heard one of my hens fussing and I went out there and it was close to my back porch and my hen was chasing it. IT HAD SOMETHING IN ITS MOUTH. I thought it was my chicken's head! I chased it, just knowing it was my little hen's head in its mouth. It dropped what was in its mouth and went THROUGH the fence, rather than over it. Then I couldn't find what it dropped. I just knew it was a head. Then, I looked and there were my 2 little hens. It must have been a mouse, or hummingbird.

Not sure what to do with this thing!

 

[trailchick]

RR's will eat lizards, mice, small snakes, & bugs, and yes, small birds too (nestlings- fledglings), anything near the ground, where they normally stay. They are a type of bird that mates for life, like doves, and are in the cuckoo family. They are normally from the arid part of the SW US but have drifted east into NW Arkansas. They also live year round in their home area & do not migrate.
There is a greater and lesser roadrunner, meaning larger and smaller.
Are those chicks bantams? Once they get a little bigger there shouldnt be any worries about the RR's getting them, unless that is a Greater RR & is quite a bit larger than your chicks.

 

[Nambroth]

Quote:
Wish respect, your hen probably wanted the roadrunner's snack for herself! Are your hens tiny bantams?

If it were me, I'd leave the roadrunner alone and enjoy the free pest control.

If you have chicks, though, I'd keep them confined.

 

[tomatillo]

Quote:
Wish respect, your hen probably wanted the roadrunner's snack for herself! Are your hens tiny bantams?

If it were me, I'd leave the roadrunner alone and enjoy the free pest control.

If you have chicks, though, I'd keep them confined.

She probably DID want what the roadrunner caught! I did not think of that!

3 of my hens are silkies, one is a bantam, they are fine. The other 2 are tiny. One is 1/2 silkie and I think possibly 1/2 serama. She is 4 months old and still so tiny, the other one is an old english bantam who is a couple of months old.

I am going to leave it alone. I really like it actually. It is becoming tame and likes my yard, and I do like the pest control.

Thanks everyone.

 

[tomatillo]

Quote:
I am pretty sure it is a Greater RR.