[8doubles]

 Busy in the kitchen making a cheese and pickle roll so i could get back to watching Poirot i noticed speckled hen out in the garden was making quite a fuss for a longer time than usual so i went for a look.
Speckledy is quite vocal and tends to let you know if she has laid an egg or just had a near miss from a windfall apple but this sounded different. Opening the door which leads to the garden what should i see in the centre of the lawn under the rotary clothes line (the one with the bird scaring cd`s hanging from it) but the local male sparrow hawk plucking a collared dove.
 One look at me an the hawk was off with the dove leaving most of the feathers and one hen a very vocal hen behind.

I think a bit of noise from the hen which was free ranging ten feet away was justified this time!

[8doubles]

Both hens were very slow to come out of the coop this morning when they would normally squeeze out before the door had opened 4". Speckledy had also laid an egg from the perch for the first time.
Perhaps they were frightened more than i thought !

And dove feathers are a pain to sweep up from wet grass !

[New shoot]

Mine used to get very scared when the red kites first started appearing over Reading.  They have a roofed run, so are safe, but they didn't like it one bit.

They have got used to them now and ignore them, but if one came near when they were out free-ranging, I think they would run for cover.

Hope your girls settle down and forget their close encounter  

[tosca100]

Your speckledy sounds just like our Lady G!

We have a sparrowhawk visit occasionally, but there is lots of cover in the garden for the chooks so they soon get over it. Hopefully your's will too. Just one of those things they have to live with I suppose.