Well, our little friend has returned several times, now. We've got a positive ID--it is a Cooper's Hawk. Not surprisingly, this is one of several breeds known as a Chicken Hawk... This biggest bummer about the visits is not being able to let the chickens roam freely. Now we must supervise their yard time, and learn to speak [or at least understand] "bird"... On 3 occasions I have observed distinct behavior and vocalization changes in all the other birds, and as such shuttled the girls into their pen... within minutes the hawk has appeared, but always too late. "Cooper", as we've been calling him/her, is also a juvenile, and apparently their first autumn on their own is when they are the hungriest. But there is NO way I'm letting him near my girls. We've got many ideas on hawk-proofing the yard so they can get out more, but with everything else going on right now, it' going to have to wait, unfortunately.
In related news, Foxy Brown started laying eggs a couple weeks ago, prompting me to take a day out of the bathroom remodeling to build an addition to the chicken coop. Now we have two nest boxes, and in fact, Delilah is sitting in it right now, quite possibly laying her first egg...
This is a photo of Foxy's first... it's pretty darn big for a first egg... definitely bigger than Francine's first.So now I must go check the nestbox... if Delilah has laid an egg, there will be another post soon! :)
2 comments:
a co-worker said you should wrap your chicks in bacon. I told him that was inappropriate yet possibly delicious.
actually, a co-worker said you should wrap them in barbed wire. Sorry, I just got done watching a comedy routine about bacon.
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