The Girl's Little Adventure *PLUS!* An Unknown Danger

Today I let the girls out for some supervised free-ranging. I greeted the flock at the door with a cup full of yogurt. Oh, how they were so overjoyed. They all poured out of their enclosure and followed me (with my cup of yogurt) to a sunny spot where I set down the yogurt. The pullets swarmed.

Yumm, yogurt always satisfies.

Lemon's yogurt face.

After the yogurt all disappeared (mostly down the throat of big ole' Lemon), they walked on the rock wall and hopped near some new green grass. I wasn't long before they got a bit too close to the neighbor's, and I guided them with a stick to forage elsewhere.

Top and bottom: Charcoal, Lemon, and Spice make their way to the fresh green grass.

They ran up the slope of my yard. . .

Rounded a bend and headed over to the pool.

Lime was last to follow. She picked and pecked at the ground until she looked up...Oh no! The flock was leaving without her!And she quickly hurried over.

Enjoying the hoard of weeds, yet to be eaten!

Then, after getting bored, they wandered over to the forest's edge. I followed them to make sure they didn't get into any trouble.

Very excited, the girls bound anxiously over to unexplored weeds, leaf piles, and uneaten insects.

Here in the picture the flock is finding food right at the forest's edge.

Today was yet another beautiful day (except for the wind and cold) for exploring, and clearly the flock enjoyed it as much as I had. Everyone was happy and very occupied by their task, as they scratched and overturned wet leaves. Lime was joyously pecking away at the ground, she walked towards the old white picket fence then lifted her head. I thought everything was well until Lime stretched her neck and sounded the predator alarm. . .

"Ba-gawk! Ba-awk!!"

"Ba-ba-ba-baw-awk!"

The girls' heads all shot up straight and they clucked nervously along, my eyes immediately turned and searched in the sky. I saw nothing, no hawks or falcons of any sort. Confused, I looked back at the girls. Their neck were all swerved at the direction of the forest. Using them as a guide, I finally saw what had alarmed Lime. 

There was a medium sized coyote sneaking around the forest, still a bit far away from me and the hens. The coyote was a grayish-brown color that blended very well with his surroundings (the dry leaves scattered around the forest and the trees that had still not grown their buds out), and it was almost impossible to spot unless you had a chicken or other animal around with you. He had been very silent as he neared us, for I had heard nothing.

The coyote seemed to be taken by surprise by Lime's predator alarm call, and now stood still watching us.

I quickly bawked my alarm calls very loudly, to let him know that he had been spotted and could not hide anymore. I grabbed my camera as the coyote made his swift departure deeper into the forest towards a large brush-pile.

Here in this picture, the coyote is turning to leave. Oh, and sorry for the blurriness, I was in a  rush.

I hushed the girls and ushered them back to their enclosure. I now knew, NEVER to let any of the pullets out of my sight for too long. And since I live near a lake bustling with wildlife, I will probably meet another coyote again or maybe some other predator. 

I also took a look in my chicken book called Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, by Gail Damerow, and read about different chicken alarm calls. I figured that Lime had made an "alarm cackle", which is, as said from the book, "a more consistent caution call announcing the approach of an apparent predator on the ground or perched in a nearby tree.It consists of a brief series of short, sharp sounds followed by one loud, high pitched sound. . .Other chickens may take notice, and some may join the cackling while stretching their necks to get a better look and moving around in an agitated way. . ."