What predators can roosters actually kill/fend off?

[centrarchid]

The thread is starting to build up some wind as in difficult to believe..

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... Ducks just runaway and hope they're the fastest. ...

The truth is that in order to survive the duck only has to be the next to slowest bird in the flock.

 

[Shellz]

Lol!

 

[ChickieG'ma]

Duck stategy in the wild is to fly if they aren't brooding or stay in the middle of their pond. Geese are big and mean and chickens in the wild flog and run. Hence, better at both.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My vet says 6 pounds is about the most a red-tailed hawk can carry away. ...

All I can recommend to you is to never never get aboard your vets private aircraft if he is behind the controls. His six pound payload statement for a red tail hawk shows a serious misunderstanding on his part of the basic aerodynamic rules of flight. Your vet's statement shows that he is seriously looking for a place to buy the farm and he just may take you with him.

The male red tail hawk weighs anywhere from 1.5 ponds all the way up to 3.5 pounds. The females weigh about 25 percent more. Six pounds is significantly (almost 2 pounds) more than the total weight of the largest red tail hawk on record. However payload weight is not the most critical factor limiting a red tail hawk from getting airborne with one of your chickens. The problem is aerodynamic drag produced by two dead and useless wings, trailing feet, dangling drumsticks, not to mention all those wind catching drag causing dead chicken feathers fluttering in the breeze. It is like expecting the Wright Brothers first airplane to take off with a dozen large barn doors dangling from the landing gear. A pregnant sow with a goat under each arm has a better chance of flying than a red tail hawk has of taking off with a dead six pound rooster.

 

[AlphaRoo45]

I have witnessed my aunts RIR Rooster take on raccoon, while this rooster was around 4 years old and had about 3 inch spurs it seemed the coon picked on the wrong flock to mess with that night. With several quick pecks and a few good kicks we watched the coon tuck his tail and run. A few weeks later a weasel got into her coop and killed the whole flock including the rooster, it was sad walking into her coop to find 18 hens and a rooster beheaded.

 

[SheriT60]

Know from experience that roosters try but can't defend against predators. We lost 11 hens this week in one night. Only our Roo survived. He lost many feathers off back, tail and one wing but is crowing again. We are not certain what the predator(s) was except that the dog is penned and went crazy barking and was able to get out but too late. Problem is although chicken wire was pulled out, feathers and parts were everywhere there was no hair to indicate what might have done it. So now we are planning a totally different coop and getting more girls. Think my husband misses them more than I do.

We have talked about a cam of some sort but know that we have coons, possom, skunk, fox, bobcat and coyote around. Not certain what good it would do to see it.

Good luck!

 

[Andrstein]

Sounds like our loss. 9 birds in 2 hours of broad daylight. They waited till we left. It was coyotes. All we found were feathers at the kill sites but no other signs. The next day I waited at the door with a rifle and sure enough they came skipping out of the woods after our last hen and turkey at the same time we were gone the day before. I may try poison bait if they stop showing during shooting hours. The silver laced wyandotte rooster left the biggest spread of feathers of all the kills so I'm sure he put up a good fight, but a hungry coyote is a bit more than a roo can take on.

 

[speckledhen]

Know from experience that roosters try but can't defend against predators. We lost 11 hens this week in one night. Only our Roo survived. He lost many feathers off back, tail and one wing but is crowing again. We are not certain what the predator(s) was except that the dog is penned and went crazy barking and was able to get out but too late. Problem is although chicken wire was pulled out, feathers and parts were everywhere there was no hair to indicate what might have done it. So now we are planning a totally different coop and getting more girls. Think my husband misses them more than I do.

We have talked about a cam of some sort but know that we have coons, possom, skunk, fox, bobcat and coyote around. Not certain what good it would do to see it.

Good luck!

Sheri, don't put up chickenwire again. It is not made to keep anything out, only chickens in.

My friend in KY was outside, but on the opposite side of her coop talking to a deputy, when a n'hood rottweiler snuck through the back woods and into her coop. It was met head on by about 11 roosters and quite a number of hens, all of whom were fighting together. Being on the other side of the house and in the coop, neither my friend or the officer could hear the ruckus. The dog killed a few birds, mostly roosters who were front and center in the fight, but as the dog was running across the yard and passed the officer with a chicken in his mouth, my friend yelled for him to shoot the dog, which he obligingly did, on the spot, and returned the dead dog to the owner. All the roosters who could get out of their enclosures fought the dog that day, including two young Orpington cockerels who were about 15 weeks old. The dog died with one of those in her mouth, but one hen in particular, half sister to those Orp teen males and the daughter to my own late Blue Orp, Suede, had blood in her beak and dog hair in her claws from being in the fight. The only reason she probably wasn't killed is that she apparently jumped onto a food tote and the lid closed on her-she was found later in the tote, still fighting mad. If I recall, one of her half sisters also was in the fray.

It's amazing what they will try to do, hens included at times, when confronted by a predator in their midst. Doesn't mean they will succeed, of course. That same flock's main leader, Lancelot, another Blue Orp, has confronted a mama coyote twice, foxes and other assorted predators and recently killed a stray adult cat who had the misfortune to wander across his domain. He'll probably eventually die this way, but that is his calling and what he is there for. He's saved his flock on many occasions and will continue to do so until his last breath. It's just instinct and now, with his experiences, he doesn't hesitate to confront a threat head on. He's been successful probably only because of his 3" spurs and his extra large size and fluff-he's quite an intimidating sight. Here is a link to the thread about this particular rooster's encounter with mama coyote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/521876/why-have-a-rooster-new-pg-10-video-pg-13
There is another one called "Fox Football, Anyone?", re: same rooster.

 

[jsawler]

my condolences on your loss! my hand extended for a hand shake to the cop!