After The Hawk Scare

Mark and I let the girls out for a bit tonight while I fed and watered and added a little treat to each coop.  We all were on high alert.

The girls really enjoy the paths Mark made in the snow.  They can stand on the ground in some of them.  And that is just where they stay.  No one strayed today, not even Inez.

There is safety in numbers.

A little extra suet treat.

OHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I was under a quilt trying to get warm in the family room while watching TV and I heard the chickens raising a ruckus.  I mean they were absoutely going crazy!  I looked out the door and dropped my teeth.  A hawk in the tree watching them with both it's  beady eyes.

 

Mark was upstairs so I called him to see if he could get eyes on it.  It took him a minute but finally with some direction he say it.

I couldn't stand it!  I ran for my jacket, camera, and put my boots on as I was hurrying out the door.  No way this bird was going to put fear into my girls.

They were all huddled under the coop squawking like crazy.  Warning each other that there was danger near.  Not to worry girls, I've got your backs.

I got as close to the fence as I could get so I would be sure to get a clear picture to figure out what kind of hawk/bird was eyeing my girls.  I'm going to send this blog to my friend from the Cincinnati Nature Center now working as the Outreach Director at Black Swamp Bird Observatory in northern Ohio.

Huge wing span.

 The pictures aren't really clear...couldn't be that I was talking that bird far away from my girls.

Hope it finds another neighborhood far away to go hunting!

Snow Paths

Over the last few days we have gotten about 5 inches of snow with a little coating of ice.  The chickens don't care much for the snow ( we'll have to talk to them about that...my chickens not liking the snow...unheard of!)  I have trudged back and forth all over the back yard from the rabbits to the chickens and back over and over again.  There is a little highway of paths out there.  When I come in because I am so out of shape I am huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon.  So yesterday Mark got the snow blower and  made some paths.  Love them and so do some of the girls.

 

Some still fly from place to place to avoid stepping in the snow.  Crispy is one of those kids of girls...wimpy.

Ellis and I put some of the good stuff in the middle of one of the paths to entice them into coming out.

We had a little chicken parade.

Sometimes the heavier chickens (Esthelle) fall through the snow and need a little help getting out.

Inez doesn't seem to mind the cold at all.

EffieGrace on the other hand is not a fan!

Ellis and his chicken.  He named her and he is always checking on her.

Not many people can hold Ethel.  She is a shy one and a hard one to catch.  But this good chicken wrangler can catch her most of the time.

 

People Have Asked.....

...how I have kept my girls from freezing in this weather?  Do I heat the coops?  Do I bring them inside?  And I answer no to all the above.  I've done my research and have decided that when I was choosing birds I choose those that were cold tolerant.  I am afraid to keep a light on or heat the coop for fear it will burn down and we would have fried chicken.  So I just let nature do what nature does.  I do check to make sure the coops are vented properly so no condensation builds up on the Plexiglas.  I keep the chicken poop cleaned out and in the compost bins because it is filled with moisture.  So far so good even with the temps in the -20 without the wind chill added in.

 

They don't much like the snow.

I have seen several of them stand around on one foot.

For some reason they think they aren't walking in the snow if they are on the fence.  Don't tell them but they are still walking in the snow because the fence is covered.

Some of them even stand in the coop on one foot.

The little chicken whisperer is back.

He says that Esthelle is the hardest one to catch.

We threw some treats into the snow to lure them out.  That didn't last long.

Another fence walker.

Standing on one foot.

Got 'Em Before They Froze

I'd love to know how many miles I have walked from the backdoor to the coops and back.  I should keep track.

Love my girls that like to brood.  They move those white wooden eggs everywhere.

Chickens In The Snow

Estelle was the first one to venture out into the cold white stuff.

Sitting pretty.  I love her tail feathers.

Oh no, chicken almost down.

Road block

Slip sliding along the rails.

If you don't want to stand in the snow, just stand in the dish.

Susie ran them all out.

Another new perch...anything not to get in the snow.

 

 

It is a little blurry but they are still fun to watch and listen to.