An Angel To The Rescue

I sure hope this works!

I have a hawk trying to  get the rest of my chickens. It's already gotten an adult chicken.  Probably was what chased off another and hurt her neck, apparently some nice Texans found her on the county road, they inquired at a couple of neighbors who did beak counts and said it wasn't theirs.  They couldn't just leave her hurt and injured along side the road. I was away on vacation and clueless till my daughter called that one was missing. Thank you for rescuing her, I hope she is doing well in her new home.

Between bobcats, racoons, a fox or two, neighbors dogs, nice Texans and now hawks, I'm down to penning up what's left of my chickens in a wire covered coop 24 hours a day.  

So much for the idea of free range chickens!

Thought I got a pic with all four chicks, I think one is hiding between Broody and Poppy. See the one by the post? LOL ~ They put their heads in that space and think they are hidden from view.

Now this darn hawk is harassing the rest of my poor babies. Like I said, I've been keeping them cooped up in a totally enclosed pen. So that brazen hawk comes down and tries to get at them through the wire. Broody, my only Barred Rock left out of eight, tried to protect "her babies" and somehow injured her leg. She's  just now getting back up on it and rather woobly with it.

I say "her babies" because she went all broody near the end of June and was trying to hatch out the wooden eggs. Tried taking her off the nest, taking the eggs away, but nothing worked. The last failed attempt of taking her off the nest she just went over under the Hazelnut tree, fluffed her feathers, sat down and looked at me with a look that said "fine, don't want me to sit in the coop, then I'll just sit here". So I picked her up and put her back on the wooden eggs in the coop.

Ke sara sara? Not exactly~~~

With very little research on the net, I set off to the grange to obtain, three day old, chicks to put under her.  The girl helping us took me aside (had the G'kiddo's with me) to explain that everything you read on the net isn't necessarily true (good to know). One of three outcomes could happen. 1)not interested in anothers offspring. 2)interested enough to peck them to death. 3)Oh good! the wooden eggs finally hatched...yeah I'm a mama!!!

 

Mama? Yes baby?

And then the strangest thing happened, Poppy, the only remaining hatchling from the six I bought in March (raised in the laundry room bathtub), started acting like a baby chick and wanted to be under Broody also. And even stranger, Broody, who days before would chase her away, now let her sit with her and "her babies".  And Poppy is a wonderful big sis, sharing select morsels with her little sisters!

Sorry about the detour ~ back to the main topic!

Again the net to the rescue! Went online to see what I could find to chase the hawk away. Fake snake...NO! NO! NO!  I don't like snakes, fake or otherwise! Fake owls don't seem to be working either.

Then I found this at Farmhouse38
 

 Isn't this cute! She has really good directions for constructing this gal.

Now this idea had real possibilities. So I got to thinking at what I had on hand to achieve something similar and to hopefully keep the hawk away.

Okay, this has a basic human shape and all I had to do was pry it out of the weeds. It also has a round base that makes it easier to move around. It's only about 3 1/2 to 4 feet high.  So keeping this in mind I went to find something to put on it.

Raided the G'kiddo's old dress up drawer and found a sparkley white, gauzy, floaty dress.  With wings. A blue sparkley, floaty, gauzy, very long vest. A trip through the garage provided a round mirror, wire and cutters.

I dressed my mannequin ~ scarecrow ~ Angel in the sprakely clothes.

 

 Wired the mirror on for a face. Draped the vest over the bow as a head scarf that billows ever so lovely in the breeze.

Voila!

After finding that the wind breeze knocked her over I had to add a brick for weight.

And again ~ Voila!

It's been a few days since I started this post and I'm happy to report that the brazen hawk has not been seen. I  move the Angel every day so monsieur hawk does not get wise to me!

I'm now letting the small brood out for late afternoon hunting and pecking adventures. Supervised of course!!! I have to lock up three cats and Lily and sit with my small brood for a half hour or so, but it's nice to see them out and about. And I'm also happy to report Broody's injured leg is coming along nicely.

Sharing with the following:
Bella Rosa Antiques
My Salvaged Treasures 
Ivy & Elephants
Elizabeth & Company

Sweet & Simple Fridays
Thanks for popping in~~~

Happy Hunting, Pecking and Gathering!!!