A hawk got my baby chick!

[Ginmary]

People have lost chickens by hawks when they were standing close to the chickens.

 

[cmom]

We have a blueberry patch that when the berries are in season they are covered with good heavy duty netting. When the blueberries are gone, we take the netting down. One day I was out in the blueberries after we took the netting was gown and one of the birds wondered in. Not 10' away from me a hawk swooped down and killed my bird. It happened so fast. The hawk didn't take her but did kill her. Another time a hawk took a chick out of a small temporary pen we would put the chicks in. DH was right next to them cutting wood on his saw. From then on I put netting over the small pen. A Red tail found a breach in some netting where the zip tie holding two pieces together deteriorated and came off and left a gap that the hawk got through. I had gone on a Dr. appt. and some errands. When I got home the birds were abnormally fussing, that is when I saw the hawk in the pen. Some of the casualties that weren't far from starting to lay.

 

[murgiyan]

I am so sorry for your loss...

Unfortunately, that hawk DOES know they're there, and you'll have to keep them penned up for a while (if not for good). I supervise my flock when they are foraging, and I've been able to scare off multiple hawks. If I hadn't been there watching, who knows how many I'd have had to bury? I have been VERY lucky - I know it. Everything wants to get our chickens, and it's nearly impossible to keep everything at bay.

Do you know what kind of hawk it was? Larger hawks (like Red Tails) will easily carry off an adult. Smaller hawks (like Coopers) will still attack and kill adults. I find that knowing which hawks I'm dealing with helps.

I think it was a Cooper's. My husband was commenting - chickens can can be eaten by almost anything, including humans.

 

[murgiyan]

We have a blueberry patch that when the berries are in season they are covered with good heavy duty netting. When the blueberries are gone, we take the netting down. One day I was out in the blueberries after we took the netting was gown and one of the birds wondered in. Not 10' away from me a hawk swooped down and killed my bird. It happened so fast. The hawk didn't take her but did kill her. Another time a hawk took a chick out of a small temporary pen we would put the chicks in. DH was right next to them cutting wood on his saw. From then on I put netting over the small pen. A Red tail found a breach in some netting where the zip tie holding two pieces together deteriorated and came off and left a gap that the hawk got through. I had gone on a Dr. appt. and some errands. When I got home the birds were abnormally fussing, that is when I saw the hawk in the pen. Some of the casualties that weren't far from starting to lay.
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I am so sorry. That is so sad.

 

[ChristinLewin]

Crows often scare off hawks, but chickens don't know that. But I've heard ppl say that crows have taken very small chicks.

Actually, my 8-10 week old babies respond 100% of the time to a murder of crows squawking about because the chicks know that means a hawk is nearby.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Actually, my 8-10 week old babies respond 100% of the time to a murder of crows squawking about because the chicks know that means a hawk is nearby.

That's awesome! My chickens are scared of crows and duck and cover whenever they just fly over- no squawking necessary.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I think it was a Cooper's. My husband was commenting - chickens can can be eaten by almost anything, including humans.

Coopers are what I dealt with the most at my last house. I found that the younger hawks are a BIG threat because they'll attack anything, it seems. Females are bigger and will go after larger chickens, esp when they have chicks of their own.

 

[lovesfarms]

Sorry for your loss . There's Hawks flying over us every day, not circling though. My chicks scatter even when thay are far in the distance and nothing has ever happened. Where I used to live there were so many crows. When I gave the chickens leftovers the crows would sweep real low, close enough to touch the chickens. As soon as the chickens ran, the crows would steal their food. They never hurt the chickens but sure terrorized them!

 

[DogAndCat36]

A hawk got my baby chick Ginger yesterday. He was sitting eating her when I spotted it. It flew up and sat on the power line behind my house and sat there for an hour while I buried the remains of my baby and took the others inside.

I have 4 (now 3) babies that are about 9 weeks old now. I had started to leave them outside in my backyard all day and would keep an eye on them. They were so happy running around, often following me when I brought the food. They would usually sitting in sheltered places, under shrubs etc. The last couple of days they had started venturing out in other open areas of the yard.

The hawk got to them before I could see. The other 3 ran and hid behind a dense geranium at the farthest corner of my fenced yard, which is quite a ways away from the spot where they were attacked. I looked all around the yard several times. Couldn’t find them. Kept telling myself that the hawk couldn’t have killed all of them. Then this time when I went in that area, I heard a faint peep. Really it was so faint it could have been from a hummingbird (I have tons of hummingbirds). I looked. At first I didn’t see them. Then they moved just a bit. I tried to catch them- they were so scared. Two of them kept looking in the direction of the spot where the hawk had attacked Ginger.

The hawk came back first thing in the morning and sat atop the neighbor’s roof with a view of the garage back door. He knows they’re there. I came into the backyard a couple of times this morning and saw it fly away. He knows he has easy prey here.

My babies are so traumatized. i am sure they’re missing their sister. I tried bringing them out (because they’re still in my garage) while I sat there the whole time to keep an eye on them. They stayed at their favorite spot. Didn’t even move a foot away.

Will this scar them for life? I hope they will be able to be the fun little girls like they’ve been in the last few weeks.

I do know that I can’t leave them outside when we’re not watching. Hopefully once they’re older they will not be attacked.View attachment 2287819View attachment 2287820

I'm sorry for your loss.

I have heard of some people getting one goose for the flock and it scares away the hawks and even warns when there is trouble. But I never tried it, just heard alot about it.