I just now walked into the backyard to shut the chickens into their coop, and I heard a frantic, terrified squawking coming from the other side of the run. I ran towards it, yelling "Hey!" and an enormous redtail flew off into the woods. A big pile of red feathers by the fence. I was afraid of what I would find, but Cinnamon, our young Rhode Island red, had already hidden herself in the coop under the nesting boxes. I picked her up and carefully looked for blood, but there wasn't any. The hawk had defeathered her back neatly but hadn't broken the skin.
I'm so glad I went out there just in time. Ten seconds later and a hawk would have had a chicken dinner, I'm sure.
In the photo, Cinnamon is in the foreground.
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