Hen House Helpers, hens and hawks -- oh my!

I have had the pleasure of volunteering at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm for almost a year now. I was so excited for the opportunity to care for (but mostly pick up and pet) chickens! Since last December I have gone to the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm in Grayslake as much as I could to see those little balls of fluff, and every time I’ve been delighted with the squawking, energetic hens awaiting me.

Perhaps that’s why, only several weeks ago, I was especially surprised to walk in and spot a bird in flight in the henhouse! Somehow a clever hawk had made its way into the henhouse and was swooping over the poor chickens. My mother and I panicked and ran to get help.

Luckily two farmers were just next door. They ran into the Hen House and tried coaxing the hawk outside, but had no luck. As soon as the other helpers left to get more equipment, my mother opened a large side door and the hawk successfully flew out of the Hen House.

This experience demonstrates how in touch with animals we seem to have gotten since volunteering! Between watching them grow and (sort of) saving their little lives, volunteering at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm has always been exciting.

Hen House Helper "D"

[Editor's note: Thank you to "D" and her parents for volunteering as Hen House Helpers! Thanks also for sharing this story with our blog readers.]

Heroic Hawk Helpers

While I'm on the topic of hawks, I also had an opportunity to be a "Heroic Hawk Helper" last Friday. I realize this is a chicken blog, but ....

The Learning Farm hens are out in the pasture with their mobile hen house -- the EggMobile -- for the summer. While they're in their "summer home" one of the farmers participating in the Prairie Crossing Farm Business Development Program, Nick from Midnight Sun Organics /http://midnightsunorganics.com/, is using the Learning Farm's indoor Hen House for his layer and meat chickens.

I hurried past the Hen House last Friday afternoon -- quickly finishing up my tasks before I headed out of town for a weekend with some high school friends. To be honest, I was probably already thinking about our plans to participate in the Susan Komen walk together, and working through the logistics in my head.

I glanced in the Hen House and spotted Nick completed surrounded by chickens. I've heard that Nick's turkeys (who make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner by the way) follow him around like he's the Pied Piper, so my curiosity was piqued.

I poked my head in to see what was happening, and he quietly gestured for me to come inside -- a small hawk had apparently decided to join the flock! The hawk was not big enough to be a threat to the chickens and he didn't even seem to notice them, unlike his big "cousins" from my last post. I'm taking some poetic license here in assuming the hawk was a "he" -- he sought out a huge group of female birds AND was lost but showed no signs of asking for directions. But I digress . . . .

Nick and I started plotting about how to convince him to leave. I held the door open while Nick tried to shoo him out, but although the hawk flew right towards the door he kept landing on top of it. Nick was wearing goggles to protect his eyes and I was covering my head and closing my eyes. It was not a perfect plan. We propped the door open with a board so we could both try to corral him out. I decided to live dangerously, and opened my eyes. Thankfully it worked, and he was off!

Perhaps we should coin a new expression about the "hawk in the henhouse" whenever we feel stuck and are not sure how to handle a situation -- we all need someone to point us in the right direction, and provide a little comic relief along the way. A rooster in a hen house knows what to do, but a hawk? Not so much!

Erin Cummisford

Of Hawks and Hens

I came to the farm one evening a few weeks ago for a Hen House Helper training session, and found 3 large hawks dive-bombing the chickens outside the Egg Mobile in the chicken yard. The roosters were raising the alarm LOUDLY and the hens were making TONS of noise. It was not a peaceful night at the farm to say the least.

We tried to scare the hawks away, but were not very successful. I called my husband and kids to the farm -- I know they can make lots of noise and create distractions -- and sent them into the chicken yard to hoot and holler. The hawks were not scared of my family, the family I was supposed to be training, or the other people who heard the panicked calls of the chickens and came to the farm to investigate. They peered down on us from their perches in the trees, determined we were neither predator nor prey, and blithely ignored us while they went about their work.

Although the chickens were too large to be carried away by one of these birds, it was a scary experience and a startling reminder of the web of life. The majestic hawks we loved to spot hunting along the side the road were now hunting our beloved chickens! The kids were particularly concerned about the chickens and wanted to camp out at the farm to keep an all-night vigil. Homework, bedtime, a good night's sleep and the morning school bus made that an impractical (and temporary) solution.

At the end of the day though, despite the many layers of protection for our chickens -- the electric perimeter fence, the secure Egg Mobile that is closed each night, the Nite Guard Solar (registered trademark) predator deterent http://www.niteguard.com/, the roosters who alert and corral hens to take shelter, the covered areas under the Egg Mobile door and feed area, the trees they are often pastured under to compromise Red-Tail hawks' preferred hunting methods, the chickens' proximity to people, etc. -- we can't completely protect them from harm.

As many farmers say, the only way to completely eliminate predation is not to pasture chickens. We keep our chickens off pasture until they are fully grown -- Red-Tail and Coopers hawks have low rates of success with fully grown hens. We do our best, then hope for the rest -- and that's life on the farm.

Erin Cummisford