Cooper's Hawk - will it eat a full grown chicken?

[Little Fuzzy]

Wow now that guy needs to do some work on that unsecured coop. Also what would be the sense of building a run without at least netting the roof?

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I agree, you can't get mad at the poor Hawk who just watches the smorgasbord walking around our yards. I have a juvenile Red Tail who lives in my neighbor's tree. He sits on the fence and once I caught him sitting on top of my coop while the girls free ranged. Mychickens and my ground squirrels were all out eating in front of him. He always announces his presence even with a certain noise that my dog has learned and she goes out and starts barking. Im sure I'll lose a bird someday, but chickens deserve a good free ranging life. I have stuff they can run under.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Nothing scares the squirrels out of the bird feeders HAHA.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Why would you deny the Hawk a meal of the Morning Dove, especially if he leaves your chickens alone?My local Hawk is keep the ground squirrel population under control.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

i just went and looked up your hawk and it eats small rabbits.. lizards. squirrles.. i don't know if it would do a whole grown chicken. but they are known to be strong flyers who can chase prey through vegetation... gl..

Coopers hawks are one of the three species of "Chicken Hawks" They are so named because they eat birds to include chickens.

The Cooper's hawk is in the middle size wise among chicken hawks. The Red Tail is the biggest Chicken Hawk and the Sharp Shin or Blue Darter Hawk is the smallest of the chicken hawks.

Whether or not a Cooper's Hawk would attack your chickens depends on how frogie the hawk feels at the moment.

 

[Suzanne Soon to be 70]

A Coopers Hawk killed my EE today. I was at the window and rushed outside but chicken was dead. He tried to carry her off but she was too heavy or he was scared since I was yelling and coming at him with a broom. Mine will be locked up from now on as this was the second one this hawk has killed.

 

[SilverSpringChicks]

I was just standing immediately in front of my two month old pullets who were digging under a hydrangea and a coopers hawk flew right down over the hydrangea and then landed on our fence. I was literally a foot from the chickens. I clapped it off and immediately put the chickens back in their run. What a scare - will definitely be reconsidering our "chicken outings" that we've been letting them on daily. Every time we've let them out, we're literally standing right next to them at all times. Thought that would make it safe, but I guess not.

 

[Joshy Roo]

I have a Coopers Hawk harass my flock every so often. Luckily Ive been around to foil its attempts.
In the fall I let my hens into my fenced off garden to glean whats left, when i was done I picked up the one red to toss her back out over the fence, as i did the hawk was swooping in to grab a columbian on the other side. I literally foiled its attempt by throwing a chicken in its face! Poor little red hen was so shook up she froze and i had to carry her back to the coop.
Just today as i was walking outside i heard a commotion, I ran over to find my Wyandotte Roo in a fight with the Hawk. Luckily I got there in time. I thought he was a gonner with the amount of blood loss, but so far he seems to be ok.

 

[Bella Dominique]

We had a cooper’s attack one of our Australorps this morning. We heard a loud commotion and ran out The hawk had her pinned to the ground but flew away when we ran out. ( my husband has an extremely loud voice which I think helped scare it off) Luckily she doesn’t seem hurt but will keep an eye on her. The girls are in the secure run for a while even when I’m outside because the hawk keeps returning.

 

[Fellow enthusiast]

One of the hens I raised from an egg was attacked and killed by a Coopers hawk just this past week. I got out of my car to check my mail and noticed that the hen was face down, wings spread, prostrate on the ground, dead. Some of her white feathers had been pulled out and scattered about her body. I had seen her free ranging earlier in the day, but now at 4 pm (close to dusk) she was gone. I went to the barn to check on the rest of the birds and when I came back, a Cooper's hawk was standing on the back of my dead hen, eating her kidneys. I realized that my car must have frightened the hawk away, but after I had left, the hawk had flown back. When I got into my car, the hawk once again flew a short distance away and perched in a tree, presumably waiting for me to leave and to return to finish her meal. Since then, I have had one other hen disappear. I found only a bunch of her feathers pulled and left on the ground.