Falcons in the City

I hope to begin writing again on a regular basis. I was taking four classes last semester and found myself writing essays and discussion posts almost daily. The last thing I wanted to do was write more for this blog. Now I will have (relatively) more time and energy to write here.

Our chickens--Emolga, Rhinoceros, Peepee Chick, and Drago--are surviving the cold weather. I have been putting Vaseline on their combs and wattles almost everyday to keep them from getting frostbite. Otherwise, the cold does not seem to bother them and they wander around the yard most of the day pecking at frozen grass. Because we don't have an electrical line connected to the garage that works, Alan ran an extension cord out from the house to the chicken coop for a heat lamp and an aquarium heater for their water to keep it from freezing.

So far, we have only had to use the heat lamp twice. The first time, we used the red heat lamp from their old brooder to help them dry out after being soaked in the rain. The second time, we used a black light with a lower wattage because we wanted it to be less hot and bright. Unfortunately, one of the chickens brushed against the bulb and now there are feathers melted onto it. We're hoping they'll learn to stay away from it.

Emolga's bald spot after being attacked by a falcon.
The purplish quills, with white tips that will grow back into feathers,
 are shooting up out of the skin

Besides hot bulbs and freezing cold, our chickens have had to face other threats over the past few months. Threats such as peregrine falcons. Who knew that there were Peregrine falcons in Chicago? Two of these falcons live at a nearby park, next to Mather High School, where there is an unlimited supply of pigeons to eat. One of them discovered our chickens and attacked Drago, ripping off one of her claws before she escaped to safety behind the garden hose cart. They also attempted to snatch Emolga from our yard. At first, I thought she had been taken away when all I saw was a pile of feathers and three of our chickens huddled together near the basement door. After looking all over the yard, I finally found her in the coop and was unable to coax her to come out. After that experience, Emolga remained on high alert for a month, constantly checking the skies and running for the coop as soon as she heard a noise.

On Halloween just before sunset, our chickens began clucking loudly, so I rushed out to see if the falcon was around. Sure enough, it was sitting in a nearby tree. When it saw me, it flew off and I went back inside the house. When the chickens continued clucking, I went back out and looked at the tree, but the falcon was no longer there. I turned around and watched the chickens as they grew louder and more agitated. All of a sudden, the chickens began throwing themselves at the fence, attempting to escape. Confused, I turned my head to look behind me and was confronted with the outstretched claws of a peregrine falcon, who was bearing down at the chickens, unaware that the figure (me) standing in the yard was alive. When I reached up to block it from attacking my face, it veered off to my right and flew up and away. Shaken, I grabbed the chickens, put them back in the coop, and went inside. Whew! That was a close one!

Since then, the chickens have developed a sixth sense for these falcons. They can sense them when they are still far away and rush to safety down the steps to our basement door. We have had no problems with any attacks and I think the falcons have given up on them... at least for now.