YO GEORGIANS! :)

[katiedarling]

So yesterday, I had the little chickens out in the yard where the coop is so they can see but not touch the other chickens. They are still way too small to do a proper meet and greet, but I figurd they could at least be outside and get to know the other chickens while they're growing. Poor little James is the smallest of all the birds right now. Especially in comparison to Stanley. James = midget.

It was day 3 and I had gotten a bit relaxed about them being out there, but for whatever reason felt compelled to google hawks and get familiarized with what the different ones look & sound like. I had begun to second guess that the sounds I was hearing that I assumed were hawks might not be and maybe I was just being paranoid. Especially since I had mentioned earlier I suspected there is a hawk's nest in one of the trees just on the edge of the back yard.

All of a sudden, I heard Stanley going ape and the GGs chimed in. As I went outside to go see what was up, I see a mid sized bird (looked hawkish to me) fly from the top of the run to the tree where I suspect the nest to be. James and his Bond Girls, nowhere to be seen. I though they'd been taken but they had made it behind the old dog house and were hiding. My guess is that little raptor ******* was waiting for them to come out in the open so he could get in and out easy. I guess my suspicions are confirmed and we do have at least one hawk nest on the property. And I'm petty sure I know what the little mystery babies are that show up roosting on our front porch every year are. I know we have a couple of owls & some bats, too. I know the owls are a potential threat but glad the bats are not, because bats are awesome. Since the hawk seems to be a permanent resident, I suppose this means he's never going to "move on" if he can't get to my chickens, huh?


ooooh, I was so mad!

 

[katiedarling]

Did you get them?

No. not yet. I only just started to hear them in the evenings on a couple of the neighboring properties. And my city slicker butt has never had to shoot at anything invading my space/property/animals' quality of life before. I don't practice like I should so I know I'll miss, for starters. But I also wasn't quite sure what the 411 was on coyotes. I only knew very little on the hows & whats. And I vaguely recall the DH mentioning he thought maybe it was ok to shoot them if they are a threat and only at certain times of the year. I'll be letting him know, it's year round.

So far, they've not been on the property yet this year. Not that I know of, anyway. But, they will be soon. According to my neighbor, when this house sat empty for over a year, he'd see them on the front porch, laying around. Of course, he could just be jerking my chain. I do know they've come within about 20 feet of the bedroom before because I could hear them just on the other side of the bushes. So, he may not be. Still haven't seen them yet, I just hear them and many times, they're a bit too close for comfort. It's definitely a sound that I will likely never get used to. They skeeve me out. They are now on my hit list, along with the dang armadillos that are tearing up my hydrangea bushes and other flowers.

 

[PapaChaz]

So yesterday, I had the little chickens out in the yard where the coop is so they can see but not touch the other chickens. They are still way too small to do a proper meet and greet, but I figurd they could at least be outside and get to know the other chickens while they're growing. Poor little James is the smallest of all the birds right now. Especially in comparison to Stanley. James = midget.

It was day 3 and I had gotten a bit relaxed about them being out there, but for whatever reason felt compelled to google hawks and get familiarized with what the different ones look & sound like. I had begun to second guess that the sounds I was hearing that I assumed were hawks might not be and maybe I was just being paranoid. Especially since I had mentioned earlier I suspected there is a hawk's nest in one of the trees just on the edge of the back yard.

All of a sudden, I heard Stanley going ape and the GGs chimed in. As I went outside to go see what was up, I see a mid sized bird (looked hawkish to me) fly from the top of the run to the tree where I suspect the nest to be. James and his Bond Girls, nowhere to be seen. I though they'd been taken but they had made it behind the old dog house and were hiding. My guess is that little raptor ******* was waiting for them to come out in the open so he could get in and out easy. I guess my suspicions are confirmed and we do have at least one hawk nest on the property. And I'm petty sure I know what the little mystery babies are that show up roosting on our front porch every year are. I know we have a couple of owls & some bats, too. I know the owls are a potential threat but glad the bats are not, because bats are awesome. Since the hawk seems to be a permanent resident, I suppose this means he's never going to "move on" if he can't get to my chickens, huh?


ooooh, I was so mad!

that hawks nest will be very very high up, so look for the tallest tree and then check closest to the top where there are limbs that would support it.

and the baby hawks won't nest on your porch

 

[katiedarling]

that hawks nest will be very very high up, so look for the tallest tree and then check closest to the top where there are limbs that would support it.

and the baby hawks won't nest on your porch

Well, dang. What would they be? They show up every year, roost in the same spot for a short time then they disappear. They sleep up in the eave and all I can see is there backs and tail. Sometimes, a little foot hanging out. Owls, maybe? I took photos, but don't know if I still have them. My neighbor said they looked like the might be baby red tails, but not sure. They're awful cute whatever they are.

And the nest, is way high up. it just happens to be in a tree that has a direct line of sight to the chicken yard. It's been there for a while. Pretty sure before we got the chickens. I just never really thought about it.

 

[PapaChaz]

Well, dang. What would they be? They show up every year, roost in the same spot for a short time then they disappear. They sleep up in the eave and all I can see is there backs and tail. Sometimes, a little foot hanging out. Owls, maybe? I took photos, but don't know if I still have them. My neighbor said they looked like the might be baby red tails, but not sure. They're awful cute whatever they are.

And the nest, is way high up. it just happens to be in a tree that has a direct line of sight to the chicken yard. It's been there for a while. Pretty sure before we got the chickens. I just never really thought about it.

without seeing them I don't know. But I wouldn't think babies would fledge and then build their own nest that close to the parents

 

[katiedarling]

I can't believe I still have the pics. They sleep next to the remnants of an abandoned nest that was there before we moved in. It's completely gone now. They don't stay long, either. A couple weeks maybe.

 

[PapaChaz]

I can't believe I still have the pics. They sleep next to the remnants of an abandoned nest that was there before we moved in. It's completely gone now. They don't stay long, either. A couple weeks maybe.

ohhh that's so cool! I'm gonna spend some time with my ole buddy google and see if we can identify them. It could be the juvenile hawks, I've done some reading and they take a few weeks after learning to fly to stay with the parents to learn to hunt, then they're off on their own, but they're still not strong enough to fly far at all, so that could very well be what those are

 

[katiedarling]

ohhh that's so cool! I'm gonna spend some time with my ole buddy google and see if we can identify them. It could be the juvenile hawks, I've done some reading and they take a few weeks after learning to fly to stay with the parents to learn to hunt, then they're off on their own, but they're still not strong enough to fly far at all, so that could very well be what those are

Yeah. My googling last season when they were here led me to hawks or owls. But mainly stated that most owls make their nests in the hollows of rotted trees and not so much in the branches, but I could be remembering that wrong. It did mention that they are drawn to previous nests that other birds have left behind, so that's why owls were on the radar. The reason I suspected hawks was because my neighbor said they looked more like red tails, but now that I realize there is a hawk nest in the back yard, we may have figured this little mystery out. That was not the first year we had 2 babies like that up there. We had 2 the year before as well. And you were right. There are 2 sweet gum trees next to each other, about 30-40 ft from the back of the house. The tree that is slightly taller, is the one where the nest is. It is quite well hidden, too. The only reason I saw it that one day is because I just happened to see the bird on the ground and it flew up to the nest when I came out on the back porch. Now, when I go out there to try to get a look, it is concealed so well that I can't locate it now.

 

[katiedarling]

ugh. I just went out to close up the coop and hang the refilled waterer back up. Aaaaaand I managed to not have the bottom on properly and spilled the entire gallon into the mostly fresh bedding. duh. I know that was inevitable, in fact I'm shocked my clumsy butt didn't do it sooner.



and just now, I opened a cabinet in the kitchen and the door just fell off! WTH?!

 

[rossfam06]

ugh. I just went out to close up the coop and hang the refilled waterer back up. Aaaaaand I managed to not have the bottom on properly and spilled the entire gallon into the mostly fresh bedding. duh. I know that was inevitable, in fact I'm shocked my clumsy butt didn't do it sooner.



and just now, I opened a cabinet in the kitchen and the door just fell off! WTH?!

You need a glass of wine! !!