Hawk Strike

Just when I had calmed down about the snake the other day, Guv'nor comes in saying a hawk was getting my chicks. It was just flying off when he saw it.

Sure enough, by the time I got out there, the hawk was gone and only feathers were left on the ground.

At first, it looked like the hawk had taken all 20 chicks. My heart sank. After all that hard work to lose so many so quickly, it just didn't seem fair.

Then we saw that there were five or six hiding under the coop and one inside. When I went around to check on the big chickens, there was one little one with them.

But then I heard noises from the woods and saw a couple more chicks huddled together. Once again, Dog came to the rescue and herded them out of the woods and back inside the fencing.

Later we found one in the front yard.

As we found them, we put them inside the coop for safety in case the hawk decided to come back for more.

By dark, two more had come back. But sadly, the snake had gotten one of them.
 
The head count the next morning was 18. One taken by the hawk. One taken by the snake.

The sad signs of a hawk's visit is a clump of feathers.

From the feathers we could tell it was one of the brown chicks.

Several chicks were hiding under the coop.

One chick had found safety with the big chickens.

A couple emerged from the edge of the woods.

A couple more were hiding and Dog helped get them out.