Simon Caught a Hawk

Friday evening, Simon and I got home from taking care of the cows at Pure Water Pastures.  The dogs were going crazy back at the chicken coop, so we went to investigate.  Simon, being the faster runner, got there first and discovered a large bird that the dogs had cornered.  It was actually tangled in the chicken fence!  Simon got it loose and took it to the house for everyone else to see.  I had never seen a live red-tailed hawk up so close, and I figured everyone else would be interested in seeing it.

The next morning, when Matthew went up the road to Lawrence County to do some homework, he took the hawk with him to release it there.  Since we don't have any chickens there that it may prey on, we decided it should be ok.  It was either that or kill the poor bird.  It's one thing shooting them out of the sky when they are attacking the chicken flock, but it's a different case when we have the culprit in custody and have had time to study how cool it is.  When Matthew let it out of its cage it flew up to the top of a dead tree and seemed to be fine. 

On a related note, I'm afraid we are now missing one of our Buff hens.  I don't know if the hawk got her or something else, or perhaps she has gone broody and has a nest in the hills somewhere?  She is the hen that was broody last year and successfully raised some chicks, so I hope she will re-appear.