➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Tesumph]

I agree. I have seen what hawk talons can do and that chick would be ripped to shreds.

When a hawk barely grabbed my white cochin, It tore right through her skin enough for my fist to fit through. She made it, but their talons are like knives.

Yes. In my experience of working with raptors, if it had somehow pinned the chicken through the fence then it would've used it's beak to tear him up.

Hawks can definitely grab a chicken through 2x4 welded wire and eat its crop out through the wire. I have first hand experience with hawks

It can but it didn't. Not a hawk.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hawks definitely are not slow, but the likelihood of them to be able to grab a hold of prey that's inside fencing is pretty hard to imagine.

I would say that it was a raccoon or an opossum and I would say that it will be coming back.

Well I meant like slow on the ground. Their talent is more for swooping down fast so I doubt they’d risk trying to make a kill on the ground and being so vulnerable on the ground for so long.

And that makes sense! Don’t know if we have possums but we do have raccoons but have not seen any for a while. Guess they finally discovered the new chicks and figured they were an easier kill. They also come out earlier in the morning than the others. Guess I will be locking them in the coop tonight and waking up to let them out later in the morning. And of course securing it better.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hawks can definitely grab a chicken through 2x4 welded wire and eat its crop out through the wire. I have first hand experience with hawks

Oh wow that’s scary! So it’s possible then that hawk did this? I need to go look for wounds.

 

[ShrekDawg]

A predator would pull parts off through the fence. That wing looks through the fence looks more like a bird flailing and getting a wing through..
Need more info on wounds

That makes sense! Unless maybe it got scared off before it could eat it? And ah okay I didn’t think of that! That would make sense! I’m going to go look for more wounds now.

 

[sdm111]

Red tailed hawk will do what I said. I dont know what happened to you I dont have time right now I caught the end

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yes. In my experience of working with raptors, if it had somehow pinned the chicken through the fence then it would've used it's beak to tear him up.

It can but it didn't. Not a hawk.

Yeah he was still really intact. No wounds really except the head and that bare wing but I’m going to go throughly check and be sure.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Red tailed hawk will do what I said. I dont know what happened to you I dont have time right now I caught the end

We have a lot of red tail here but idk if that is the kind my mom saw. But he was relentless and wouldn’t leave. That’s the only predator we saw and my mom says they were inside the coop shortly before she found him so I don’t know if the hawk spooked them inside or if he was already dead or what. We do have raccoons but they have previously tried to climb the top of the pen and get in that way. It would have had to have killed him this morning because they were all inside the coop last night unless he snuck out at some point during the night. Whatever it was did not get to eat him. I will check for wounds and secure the pen so no hawks or raccoon or whatever predator this was has a second chance.

 

[Tesumph]

Well I meant like slow on the ground. Their talent is more for swooping down fast so I doubt they’d risk trying to make a kill on the ground and being so vulnerable on the ground for so long.

And that makes sense! Don’t know if we have possums but we do have raccoons but have not seen any for a while. Guess they finally discovered the new chicks and figured they were an easier kill. They also come out earlier in the morning than the others. Guess I will be locking them in the coop tonight and waking up to let them out later in the morning. And of course securing it better.

Nah they're pretty agile even on the ground. That's how they eat meals that they cannot carry off. They drag them under bushes.
But you would've seen some intense punctures and tearing if it was a hawk, not just a beaten up head and bald spot. It's like knife wounds.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Nah they're pretty agile even on the ground. That's how they eat meals that they cannot carry off. They drag them under bushes.
But you would've seen some intense punctures and tearing if it was a hawk, not just a beaten up head and bald spot. It's like knife wounds.

Oh wow I didn’t know they were agile on the ground like that! I have seen them eat on the ground though. One killed my buff Orpington a few years ago while they were free ranging and I’ve seen them eating a bunny in the yard.

They are definitely torn wide open. So I guess maybe not a hawk.

But is it possible he just hadn’t had a chance to eat him yet? Or would he have killed him by puncturing him?

I really want to see if I can find any wounds now.

 

[FortCluck]

Nah they're pretty agile even on the ground. That's how they eat meals that they cannot carry off. They drag them under bushes.
But you would've seen some intense punctures and tearing if it was a hawk, not just a beaten up head and bald spot. It's like knife wounds.

They peel through skin like a hot knife through butter.

When the hawk tried to get my Polish a few months ago, it was unable to pick it up and was going to try to eat it on the ground.

There were feathers everywhere, but she beat it off. I then had to go down there and help it out of the fence in area because it couldn't get out. It's talons made me so nervous and it's beak. Even though it tried to eat my bird, I still felt bad for the thing. I got it out and it was unharmed. My chicken is still alive and doing well.