Tested By Nature

Want to know if you have hawks in your neighborhood? Take three peeping chicks into your backyard and you'll find out quickly. I know because I had the chicks outside, their second field trip to the great outdoors. I'd been watching them pick and scratch and was about to cozy into a book for a few minutes when I heard a scream. I looked up into a pine tree to see one VERY large hawk eyeballing the feathered babies. I leapt into mommy mode and snatched the two small ones, Ella and Ginger (yes, she's been named!), to put them in their brood box. Xena was running around like, excuse the expression, a chicken with its head cut off! I was so frantic that I was scaring her to running around, away from the lidless box. This meant that I was leaving the other two alone and more vulnerable while I tried to gather Xena. My heart was racing while I looked up to the sky to see the hawk circling. Damn that beautiful bird of prey! I finally got my hands on Xena and placed her in the box with the others, shielding them from the hovering bird's eye view. Obviously, there will be no more unprotected outtings. We will have to pick up the pace on getting a chicken tractor built so the girls can go outside for fresh air and fresh pickins. It's odd how nature works. I can leave the chicks in their box lidless and three cats won't pay them the any mind but put them outside for less than five minutes and all hell breaks loose. I guess my cats really are domesticated.

Notice Ginger's sprouting tail feathers? They grow up sooo fast...