Hope,
a four-year-old Rhode Island Red, has always been the most timid hen in
our flock. Snow and Nellie take it in stride when I run my hand over their backs
as they emerge from the coop each morning, but Hope reacts to this
gesture by backing into the coop.
So what happened shortly after “the girls” ran out into the pen at dawn today came as no surprise. While Snow and Nellie gathered round the feed bowl to wolf down as much food as possible as quickly as possible, Hope stood several feet away, peering at the sky. Suddenly, a blue jay swooped down and over the pen, only 10 feet or so above Hope’s head.
The jay immediately flew off to points unknown. But Hope reacted to this turn of events with what I assume is an alarm call: a single long, high-pitched, shrill note that I’ve heard before, but not very often. And the reaction from Snow and Nellie? They continued munching away without so much as a momentary break in the action, even though they obviously heard Hope’s warning.
It was as if the two of them said to themselves: “There she goes again, screaming that the sky is falling.”
So what happened shortly after “the girls” ran out into the pen at dawn today came as no surprise. While Snow and Nellie gathered round the feed bowl to wolf down as much food as possible as quickly as possible, Hope stood several feet away, peering at the sky. Suddenly, a blue jay swooped down and over the pen, only 10 feet or so above Hope’s head.
The jay immediately flew off to points unknown. But Hope reacted to this turn of events with what I assume is an alarm call: a single long, high-pitched, shrill note that I’ve heard before, but not very often. And the reaction from Snow and Nellie? They continued munching away without so much as a momentary break in the action, even though they obviously heard Hope’s warning.
It was as if the two of them said to themselves: “There she goes again, screaming that the sky is falling.”
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