I let the chickens out this morning to try and throw the hawk off of our schedule (I usually let them out in the afternoon). Ditto stayed behind in the coop, in the skeleton of an old chair, and I could tell she was about to lay an egg. I took out my phone to capture it. Ditto lays an egg:
Don’t worry…Ditto wasn’t embarrassed. She always lays her eggs out in the open. Fo does too. I think they have a hard time finding the nesting boxes due to their big plumes. Fo doesn’t even know if I’m next to her half the time unless I talk to her:
The plumes worry me when it comes to those mean old hawks. We had a really close call this last week. I was standing in the yard holding Foshizzle and I called all the other chickens over. As they ran across the yard I saw a large shadow out of the corner of my eye. It was a hawk and it must have been just sitting in the trees waiting for the right time. Everything was in slow motion…it swooped down to the running flock and I ran in bounding leaps toward it yelling at the top of my lungs. I must have scared it because it back off and ended up landing in the driveway right behind the chickens. It looked at me for a few seconds before taking off again. I was able to get all the chickens back into the coop for the rest of the evening.
I know we’ll lose a chicken one day but I hope it’s from old age. There will never be another Foshizzle…that’s for sure:
OMGosh, I’ve never actually seen a chicken lay an egg. Ashley, I just love your blog. Thank you for all you do. 🙂
My friend drove up her driveway to find 2 hawks pulling chickens out of their pen– after somehow tugging wire away. Hawks are so strong and fast and you can hardly run them off. I know they are too close to your flock. Good luck kkeeping everyone safe.