The Chicken Alarm

5:38 AM, I am awake from the sounds of my hens squaking. Hmmm..I wonder why? How odd for them to be making such a commotion so early. I laid in bed just a few minutes to see if the noise would end, thinking it's just one of the hens nesting or looking for one another - cause they call out for one another sometimes. No end to the squaks. I quietly go out front, barefoot, and walk gingerly over our gravel driveway and calm them down with (what I think are) mimicing chicken noises. They are quiet and I hear their soothing sounds back. Just then, I hear fast running from behind a fence near our beehive. I think it is just Max, our dog, so don't think nothing of it. I go back inside and look out the window, it's quiet and no movement - in case it was a burglar instead. Anyway, just as I was about to lay back down, I hear the hens again. This time, I put my robe and slippers on and go out back. As I walk near our first pen of rabbits, I quickly realize one is missing. Ahhh! Now I know what I am looking for....a white rabbit on the loose! I quickly spot my source of the chicken commotion. He is hopping around happily and calmly by the other (female) rabbits. I figured he had squeezed under the gate into the chicken coop and got the hens all in a frenzy, hence the early morning squaking. Thankfully, this rabbit is pretty calm and he came up to me several times to acknowledge me, as I do to the animals daily. I went about feeding the animals, being non-chalant about the rabbit in the corner of my eye. When I was done, I surveyed the exit point in his pen. He pushed the wire away and wiggled underneath. I patched it temporarily until I can focus better when I was fully awake. Just as I get ready to go catch him and return him to the pen, I see he is somewhat stuck near the hutch of a female rabbit, Luna. I nabbed him without incident and no scratches. So, in a roundabout way, I have my chickens to thank. They know when something is not right or when an animal does not belong in THEIR area. Without them sounding alarmed, I would not have known a rabbit had escaped.      

The Escapee

Some of the alarm makers