Hawks :(

[FrozenFeathers]

Sorry for your loss, it does always stink. Unfortunately, short I locking them up there isn't much you can do. Sounds like you've already done what you can. It's nature (boo lol), but don't give it up. Chickens are so fun to have around

 

[LvMyPeeps]

After over a year since my last Hawk attack a Hawk has attacked again and killed one of my girls :-(. After the first attack, Minnie survived by some miracle! I then put of CD's and reflective tape all around my yard and it worked. But with the winds and rains over the past year I had lost some of my reflectiveness in the yard. I didn't replace any and low and behold the Hawk got Minnie this time. She was still warm when I got home so I think I scared the Hawk away. Do hawks tend to eat the necks first? This is how I found her, neck eaten to the bone, and her pouch cleaned out, but the rest intact. I found a beautiful place to bury her next to the rest of her flock mates. The rest of her family has been traumatized too :-(

 

[Keith13]

I lost my favorite chicken to a hawk today. I saw a large red tail in the field behind the house around 0900 this morning. I went out and the hawk flew off. This evening only 3 chickens came home i went to look for Suzie and i found her she was eaten from the neck down. She was a great chicken 7 eggs a week she was a black star going to miss her

Keith

 

[Keith13]

exact same thing happened to my chicken today eaten from the neck down to the bone and then went after the intestines

 

[LvMyPeeps]

So sorry Keith for the loss of Suzie. It is really hard to find our beloved girls half eaten. I am still dealing with the loss of Minnie. I turned the girls out this morning since they so love to free roam around the yard. I told them to "BE CAREFULL"!

 

[Chickens run]

"All hawks and owls are protected by federal and state laws. There are cases, however, in which they can create public health and safety hazards or seriously affect a person’s livelihood.
Contact your local USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services office first if you are interested in obtaining a shooting permit. The USFWS and state wildlife agencies may issue shooting permits for problem hawks and owls if nonlethal methods of controlling damage have failed or are impractical and if it is determined that killing the offending birds will alleviate the problem.
Permittees may kill hawks or owls only with a shotgun not larger than 10-gauge, fired from the shoulder and only within the area described by the permit. Permittees may not use blinds or other means of concealment, or decoys or calls that are used to lure birds within gun range. Exceptions to the above must be specifically authorized by USFWS. All hawks or owls that are killed must be turned over to USFWS personnel or their representatives for disposal."

Taken from: http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/HawksOwls.asp

While it is illegal to shoot hawks and other birds of prey, there are exceptions as long as you follow the law. If you called the authorities and they gave you permission, then there you go. It doesn't sound to me like you are "going rouge" here. Good luck!

 

[Fentress]

Hawks start at the head and work down the neck. Mine take a few nibbles from the breast and then they are done. It helps to have flock with a rooster who is a good lookout. If the chickens are free ranged with room to manuever and are hawk wise, the loses should not be toogreat, at least that has been my experience.

 

[LvMyPeeps]

Thanks Fentress...Does sound like it was a hawk. Such a waste of a life just to eat the neck. I spent the evening putting up more reflective materials around the yard. Hopefully this will confuse the hawk again like it did int he future. ( My old materials had faded or tore over the past year ). I do have lots of trees and the girls really seem to be on the lookout for hawks since they lost their friend. My other thought is that Minnie was a light Brahama and she was the only white colored girl. This was the second time for her being attacked by a hawk, but she survived the 1st attack and got away with loosing all her tail feathers and a few claw marks. The worst part is my whole yard it full of her feathers so it's a sad reminder everyday :-(

 

[SallyinIndiana]

After over a year since my last Hawk attack a Hawk has attacked again and killed one of my girls :-(. After the first attack, Minnie survived by some miracle! I then put of CD's and reflective tape all around my yard and it worked. But with the winds and rains over the past year I had lost some of my reflectiveness in the yard. I didn't replace any and low and behold the Hawk got Minnie this time. She was still warm when I got home so I think I scared the Hawk away. Do hawks tend to eat the necks first? This is how I found her, neck eaten to the bone, and her pouch cleaned out, but the rest intact. I found a beautiful place to bury her next to the rest of her flock mates. The rest of her family has been traumatized too :-(

was this slightly after dusk? If so maybe it was an owl. The great horned owl in our area eats necks to the point of severing the head before moving on to other meat. We even lost a cat to the owl. Owls can be brave though, I recommend having some scarry object with you if you decide to approach an owl. A broom stick or a loud noise maker should help. A flashlight not so much.

 

[blythspirit]

I would love to let my girls free-roam also, but we have so many hawks and eagles around here I know they would be picked off sooner rather than later. We made their run 20' x 10' with 2 dog kennels put together, the bottom is secured with rail road ties the top is secured with 4" livestock panels zip tied together and reinforced with wire. the coop that is in the middle of the run has hardwire under the coop to keep diggers out of the coop at night, (or day) the outside of the railroad ties have an underground wire skirt that has been rebar reinforced every 10". The only predators that I have seen up close to my run were a few hawks, a small falcon and a very large owl This is the reason that I put the livestock panels across the top of my run. (we did have a raccoon come into the backyard at dusk but I was still in my garden and scared it half to death) This winter we put tarps with risers (to keep water from pooling) across the top and down part of the sides of the run to keep the wind and rain out. My husband was laughing at me as we were 'wrapping/ the chicken run in tarps. He said he has lived in the country all his life but never seen 'Chicken Fort Knox" before. I would rather be safe and do all that work than sorry and lose my sweet girls to some hawk that could go get itself a wild hare in the next field than play 'sitting duck (or chicken) with my girls.