Our barn now has two birds roosting on the roof. Neither needs to be fed. First there is the rooster sitting atop the barn on our weathervane. This ol' boy was quite busy during Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, spinning like a top, holding on for dear life. But he held his ground and pointed toward the blowing winds. He never crows but always knows the direction from which the wind blows.
The second bird on the roof is an owl, but not a real owl - a plastic one. He is on the right side of the roof in the above photo. We purchased him at a local hardware store. His role is to frighten off hawks. Tricia moves him around from time to time to mix things up and keep it interesting. We have chicken hawks that fly around and pick off our laying hens. We'll often find a blanket of feathers on the ground, but cannot find the dead bird.
Hawks have been putting a serious dent in our hen population. It would be a very dangerous time to set our pullets free right now. We're counting on the plastic owl to be a 'scare crow' of sorts.
