What would attack a chicken and leave a pile of feathers like this?

[centrarchid]

Look at that biggest clump of what appears to be breast feathers to see if skin attached. Coopers will certainly go after even hens but such large clumps off breast is atypical.

 

[farmtotable]

I saw a very similar pattern of scattered feathers (in a few different places) when my rooster got attacked by an eagle. The eagle grabbed him, dropped him, he ran, eagle grabbed him again, he got away, ran again, then got grabbed a third time (which is when I ran out screaming and the bird dropped him.) Sadly, since they're protected, not much I could do to stop the attack, but I was able to nurse the rooster back to health. If you were outside when it happened, did you hear the chickens make an odd sort of trilling noise? They make a very distinctive noise for an aerial predator, a sound that is much different than the noise they make for a ground predator. You can usually tell if it's a bird or a four-legged critter just by listening to what noise the chickens are making (which is great, because then you know where to aim - ground or sky).

 

[IridescentPals]

Look at that biggest clump of what appears to be breast feathers to see if skin attached. Coopers will certainly go after even hens but such large clumps off breast is atypical.

Thankfully there was no flesh lost or blood, just feathers off her back and she doesn't even have a visible bare patch. We are wondering if a bright red scarecrow near their dust bathing spot would help ward off hawks?
P.S. I looked around the older forum posts and it seems that a scarecrow isn't very effective, but that providing a shelter near their bathing area might be helpful.

 

[centrarchid]

Coopers Hawks are everywhere. I have as many as anyone and they will keep their noses clean if chickens are large enough and fully adult standard sized roosters are present. Otherwise my dogs give the hawks a hard time. Other systems do not seem effective unless you result to confining birds to a covered run or the coop.

 

[IridescentPals]

Coopers Hawks are everywhere. I have as many as anyone and they will keep their noses clean if chickens are large enough and fully adult standard sized roosters are present. Otherwise my dogs give the hawks a hard time. Other systems do not seem effective unless you result to confining birds to a covered run or the coop.

What do you think of the idea of a pair of Jersey Giants to intimidate the hawks? We didn't think we would have a rooster with grandchildren's safety and neighbors' and noise level considerations. I also have a sensitive 10 year old who won't eat chicken anymore and had to be assured that the eggs were not babies! I appreciate your sharing advice with us.

 

[centrarchid]

It would not be an absolute deterrent but is better than nothing. Such large birds would very much make Coopers Hawks from attacking but Red-tails and especially Great-horned owls might take on even the rooster if were isolated. After dark such birds have little benefit. I would do it and start educating the 10 year old.

 

[IridescentPals]

Thankfully, our night time lock up is very secure. I am pretty sure that someday the ten year old will see something on the dinner table that he can't resist (and can't name) and he will return to eating chicken. Thanksgiving will be interesting seeing if he takes a serving of turkey. He is the youngest of our dear children and if the kids have taught me anything it is not to force feed them and to let them enjoy their time of innocence. He has helped with the chicks and hens from day one and he took his rotations at guard duty all summer while we hoped the birds would grow big enough to deter predators with their own size. Obviously, we are more pet owners than farmers : )

 

[bullsie]

When my father was growing up in the 1930/40's on the farm, they had quite a number of run-ins with predators. Back then they just had owls, hawks, and foxes. Hawks proved to be one of the more interesting.

Once, they realized that they were missing a hen everyday. Keep in mind this was depression times and penning chickens away from free eats was not an option. They never saw the hawk, nor did they hear the commotion from the chickens. Watching throughout the day they discovered that the missing would occur at a particular time of the day. So a stake out was called for. At that certain time of the day Father laid in wait. The hawk did not soar in from the sky, but instead had been going from tree to tree and then finally landed on the ground. He then walked up to within a few feet of a hen, took off and grabbed her up and was gone. None the wiser! This story aided us with our pigeon and chicken raising. When we spot hawks or hear the birds chattering we pen the birds up for a day or two. It does break the predator cycle since hawks do seem to keep to a schedule. The above mentioned bird met his demise on take off.

Another incident was related to us by Grandfather who told us of the time a red tail came through and grabbed a guinea hen that was in the trees. With such force, it tore the backbone out of the bird leaving the rest still clinging to the branch.

At Mom and Dad's we raised pigeons for several years. Was alerted to a hawk attack by a bantam light brahma rooster who was defending a big red show King from a Peregrine. As mentioned earlier, hawks go for the back. If talons don't make the bird easy to kill, they will just remove a handful of feathers to destroy the head. The King survived, had tremendous head damage, and was blinded, not from eye damage but from head damage.

We are now back on Grandfather's farm and the two biggies for us are coyotes and fox. The Great Pyrenees is working out great for the coyotes and I need to invest in another. Coyotes here work in gangs and even a 250 pound horned ewe is no match for them. They eat everything from calves, sheep and goats to dogs, cats, poultry and we are seeing more frequent attacks on children. Fox have always been a pest. Ducks, chickens, cats, all prey to them. But Great Horned Owls are not so much a problem. So long as all are penned in at night all is well. But every now and again we get a few Muscovy ducks that think they should stay out all night and well those left the next day want in by nightfall. Works for me!

 

[Shining Hill]

Where are you that the coyotes are this bad? We are starting to get a lot and im worried it's going to get that way here! (NC)

 

[bullsie]

We are in west central PA and it is worse than imaginable. And yes, you are being plagued with them as well. We now have two LGD (large guard dogs) to guard the place and contemplating a few more. We have had great success with the LGDs. And sadly, it isn't an expense we needed.

Now I don't mean to make this a panic situation. Although, we are panicked here. We don't travel the woods like we once did. These are too aggressive a critter for anyone or anything's safety. And they are cleaning our forests out of most animal life. Going to be empty pretty soon but for the screaming of coyotes.