Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I'd go with the cover. Hawks tend to call while hunting/flying, a good early alert system. All my chickens become invisible before the hawk flies by. I'd call them the least of my worries. I wouldn't tempt them with slow moving chicks though, even if the broodies fight back. Good advise given...hide them for a few days while you install run to hides.

 

[Mimiko]

I lost my Barred Rock, Eagle Eye a few weeks ago to a hawk. Last week, I lost my best kitty friend, Nim Nim to a hawk. I am so sad about all this. First pic is my daughter with Nim Nim when she was a kitten, followed by a couple more of Nim Nim and then Eagle Eye the Barred Rock.




R.I.P my lovely girls. I miss you so much.

 

[cheeka]

Mimiko, I'm so sorry to hear, it's tragic to lose our friends, Nim Nim was a pretty girl, I have a dark torty, named Min Min, just thought I'd share that twist on color and letters... Eagle Eye was also a pretty girl ... I love BR's, they are such personable birds.

your daughter is beautiful, for a self-portrait, it's art, you should have it framed

 

[Mimiko]

Thank you cheeka. I loved Nim Nim so much. Min Min, huh? That is so cute!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Got me some double trouble in the last 12 hrs.
1st got in last night and just had got in the bed only to wake up to the worst godaweful squallin ive ever heard in my life coming from out back. Wasnt a bird or nothing that i knew so i let the dogs loose and took off with the shoty in hand. Guess what I found? A big fat coon trapped in the hotwires. Mr shoty took care of him.

Then the 2nd was about 8 this morning watched a hawk make a run at my run. He didnt get in. Looked like that hurt tho, lol. while i didnt shoot the hawk i did fire a couple "bird bang" rounds to drive it out. one went off about 20 feet behind it... havent seen it come back

 

[okallthis4eggs]

I'd go with the cover. Hawks tend to call while hunting/flying, a good early alert system. All my chickens become invisible before the hawk flies by. I'd call them the least of my worries. I wouldn't tempt them with slow moving chicks though, even if the broodies fight back. Good advise given...hide them for a few days while you install run to hides.

Yes the Red Tail Hawk will put everybody on high alert with that screeching sound they make. Squirrels go on high alert and every other small animal on the ground. Its like a air raid siren and they know exactly what it means. Its when the hawks sit and watch that is serious about killing something

 

[edford]

The run doesn't have to be nearly as impenetrable as the coop. The reason being is most predators are nocturnal the main things in the day are things like hawks dogs domestic cats and maybe a coyote or fox in the evenings or at dawn. So Ive found that the 2x4 woven wire works fine for a run if you put your birds up every night securely in a coop with gaps smaller than an inch. you may not believe it but all kinds of crazy **** can fit through an inch gap. My coop has a poured concrete floor and no gaps more than a half inch. a good policy on predatory animals is good to have to. i know this may seem inhumane but oh well it works Mine is if you see a coon opossum rodent of any kind, shoot it. Dogs and cats are a little different since they are pets but one that kills chickens will meet his end just as a wild animal would. don't leave food laying out ever and never let chickens free range unmonitored and if you do have a firearm on you because some animals are much faster than you and can just snatch and go. Ive learned this from a lot of trial and error. i know there's more to know but maybe this will help someone and save them the trouble of losing as many birds as i have.

 

[love my birds]

Thanks for the input. I've kept the chickens in their coop today, and will for the next couple of days. The hawk should start its trek South for the winter pretty soon. I have 3 roosters, and they keep a close eye on the hens, but they're young and have little experience. Our older chickens roam around in the bush, which is saver.

 

[love my birds]

Sorry to hear. I lost my cat a few years ago, most likely to a hawk.

 

[Lotusbud]

We just lost our first chicken to a fox the other day. I went outside that morning, noticed the chickens were already let out by hubby, saw and counted only 11 chickens under our deck and felt that creepy ominous feeling. If only those 11 chickens could talk to us. Looked everywhere but couldn't find our missing hen. At the edge of our property near a brook I found a small pile of her feathers and chicken scratch marks in the dirt road indicating a fight. Only finding a pile of feathers usually indicates a fox. There was a small trail made through the grass into the woods. I couldn't find the den nor any more feathers. She's gone for good. The first chicken loss really hurts!! We love our little ladies, and the predators seem to take the favorite ones.

We live in 'rural suburbia'. We have a very secure coop for nighttime but our 12 girls (aged 21 weeks) free-range during the day. Hubby let them out too early (7:30am) and then he went inside and didn't keep an eye on them. Normally I let them out this time of year after 8:30am so that most night-predators have gone to bed, although we occasionally see a fox or an owl during the daytime. A neighbor did see a great horned owl that morning but I don't think that took my bird (though a GHO is capable of flying off with a 4lb chicken). If an owl took her, there would be no pile of feathers left behind. An owl kills quicker than a fox. Their talons are 10x stronger than human hands and death is immediate. Fox has to fight the chicken a bit (pile of feathers) and it cuts off the airway as it walks away with the neck in it's jaws. (Sorry if TMI.)

When our chickens are foraging we keep them away from the dirt road, away from the edge of the woods that faces the brook (lots of predators drink there) and we keep them together. We're not outside 100% of the time with them but we check them and walk around the yard every 20 minutes or so. For us that has worked, though other places may have higher predation risks.

Hope this info helps someone! Seems like losing chickens to a predator is a rite of passage for us all.