A visitor came for lunch- not what I would have expected

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HickChick Wannabe

HickChick Wannabe

In the Brooder
11 Years
May 8, 2008
72
0
39
North Ridgeville, Ohio
I was working in the backyard on Saturday, ran into the house for something, and got side-tracked. When I went back out through the garage, I realize I'd left the back door standing wide open. I've been making an effort to keep it closed unless I'm right there, because of the 3-week old chicks in the brooder, in the garage. As I stepped onto the ledge to go out through the door, I stopped. Seated at our picnic table, not 5 feet from the back door, is a large hawk! Ready for lunch, I presume. I'm not sure what kind, but it was about 15-16". I don't think it could have gotten at the chicks, since they have a screen on top of the brooder. It wouldn't keep out anything 4-legged, but it should keep out a bird. Who would have thought it would have been attracted to chicks in the garage?
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The hens were all in the run when I looked; they'd been free ranging when I left them. My neighbor told me he'd seen a big hawk hanging around all morning. Of course, I'm the observant type who wouldn't notice a hawk unless it had seated itself for lunch at the picnic table...
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Thank goodness nothing happened! Did he have a bib on with this knife and fork ready like the cartoon ones?? Scary to think he can't find a mouse or something out there to eat other than our pets, dang it. Coyete's are eating all the rabbits around here, and I worry about when I get chickens if I will have to put a cover on, because we are thick with red-tailed hawks around here!!
 
Accckkk! Get an owl and see if that deters him some because once he gets a taste of something he likes, he'll be back. The nesting pair near my house I swear knew our schedule. From the time it took for us to leave, drop off my son off at school and get back he had grabbed one of my Roen ducks that was napping in the yard. Grrrr...

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that's so scary!! I don't have a garage, so my brooders are always inside, thank goodness. My chicks free range all day in my yard though, so I've always worried about hawks.... luckily it's summer though, so the chickens aren't too visible, they are always in the coop, under the coop, or in a bush looking for shade!
 
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No bib, and I think his knife and forks are permanently attached! I've been wondering how much of a problem he'll be to the hens when they're out. I've heard of using old cd's and mirrors (like in this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=106897) Our actual run is fully covered, so they can run in there and under the coop (and pull the blankets up over there heads if need be
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)

Owls deter hawks? I hadn't realized that.

Our summer has been so cool, I'm sure they'd be sun-bathing right out in the open (next to the "Diner is open" sign). I'll probably have to keep a close eye on them for some time.
 
Your lucky we have a friend that had something simliar happen only the hawk got the chicken. There was a terrible squawking and the hawk struggled for a minute to get off the ground with her. There was blood and we thought oh my God the chicken is gone!

BUT amazingly the chicken showed up two days later madder than hell walking down the drive way and only missing a few feathers. The blood could not had been from the chicken!
 
Ohhh wow! Yeah he was after those babies, certainly.

We have a pair of red-tailed hawks here and they don't bother our chickens. They're after rats, rabbits, etc. That being said, they do completely deplete any duckling population I have ever had - and I don't let my chicks out until they're nearly adults anyway. So that's probably different.

They're good and bad, hawks. But that one - yeah.... more towards the not so good side until those babies are grown.
 

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