Anyone ever raised a baby hawk W/your poultry?

[centrarchid]

They were attached to trees. Not sure how high up, though definitely at least 30 feet.
Not saying he was expecting every nest to be occupied, but a few were. He did mention that they stole eggs from his ducks. His chickens were not free ranged. It was his geese and ducks that were. Apparently the eagles took out his African geese with ease.

Crows (American) are abundant in my area as are trees on a good 1/3 of my property. Closest breeding group of crows I know of is about 400 yards away and trees in that location are very similar to those I have have. The crows have been nesting their for at least 3 years and have a red-shouldered hawk nesting very close to them. The two species likely help defend each others nest from nest maurading great horned owls and red-tailed hawks. Something is special about that location otherswise I do not understand why they would not move over near me. The crows did steal a few dominque eggs until a game rooster was released but the red-shouldered hawk causes no damage even when hunting my pasture so both species would be welcome.

 

[galanie]

The crows are nesting in a stand of trees that tall on the property behind me. From what I've been able to figure out, the hawks are not in the same stand of trees but one not more than 1/4 acre away from it. I used to witness the crows harassing and fighting hawks from time to time, and rarely saw a hawk fly over the yard. And even when they did, they were really high up. Hearing the crows raise Cain was usually an indication that they were driving off a hawk.

No more. They do call and confront the hawks, but now the hawks are driving the crows off. They aren't any bigger than the crows are, in fact they are a bit smaller. But they can maneuver lots better in the air and no longer fly to the ground to fight them but rather turn the tables. It's weird to see like 4 crows get run off by 1 hawk.

I know we also have a screech owl around. What a haunting sound that thing makes. Gives you the willies.

 

[aoxa]

Crows (American) are abundant in my area as are trees on a good 1/3 of my property.  Closest breeding group of crows I know of is about 400 yards away and trees in that location are very similar to those I have have.  The crows have been nesting their for at least 3 years and have a red-shouldered hawk nesting very close to them.  The two species likely help defend each others nest from nest maurading great horned owls and red-tailed hawks.  Something is special about that location otherswise I do not understand why they would not move over near me.  The crows did steal a few dominque eggs until a game rooster was released but the red-shouldered hawk causes no damage even when hunting my pasture so both species would be welcome.

Have any eagle issues? Those things are huge, even at a young age. I think it's good that we have plenty of tree cover for the chickens to run to. They sound the call several times a day. Mostly because we live 10 miles from an airport, and the planes set the roosters off lol.

We are also on our way directly to the ocean - so there are a lot of migratory geese, ducks and plenty seagulls and cranes passing. We have even had wild ducks stop and land in our small area. They were just hanging out with our Khaki Campbell ducks. That was weird to see.

I am very glad cooper hawks are as big as we get for hawks. I imagine our Eagles aren't as abundant as your hawks are.

 

[centrarchid]

Have any eagle issues? Those things are huge, even at a young age. I think it's good that we have plenty of tree cover for the chickens to run to. They sound the call several times a day. Mostly because we live 10 miles from an airport, and the planes set the roosters off lol.
We are also on our way directly to the ocean - so there are a lot of migratory geese, ducks and plenty seagulls and cranes passing. We have even had wild ducks stop and land in our small area. They were just hanging out with our Khaki Campbell ducks. That was weird to see.
I am very glad cooper hawks are as big as we get for hawks. I imagine our Eagles aren't as abundant as your hawks are.

Hawk diversity and abundance is pretty high here. On a given day I will see Coopers, red-tails, red-shouldered and American kestrel hunting property. On occassion I might see a broad-winged or bald eagle working Missouri river. We have an abundance of great blue herons and green herons that work my my ponds and have even seen American bittern and one of the night herons as well. Wood ducks forage in my ponds and sorts of waterfowl including the giant version of canada geese fly over daily this time of year. Turkey vultures are always abundant during warmer months becuase they nest on cliffs a couple miles to south. Blaxk vultures are also seen now on occasion because they are expanding range. Only red-tails are consistent threats and Coopers are issues only for very young birds. At night both great horned and barred owls visit but dog denies them very well. Screech owls, saw-whet and longeared owls present but I do not regard them as a threat. Other species like merlins and sharp-shinned also visit during cooler months but neither is a threat. We have county and national guard airports fairly close.


Lots of overflying but chickens only seem concerned about red-tails year round, Coopers when they have chicks, and vulture in spring after they went through winter without seeing them. Eagles here seem to target only fish in rivers. I have seen them eat on piles of dead fish from my research ponds and get baby cotton-tail rabbits exposed by hay harvesting. My dog would chase off even the eagles if they visited.

 

[janinepeters]

Lots of overflying but chickens only seem concerned about red-tails year round, Coopers when they have chicks, and vulture in spring after they went through winter without seeing them.

It always amazes me how quickly chickens learn exactly which species actually pose a threat. Certainly swooping behavior is an obvious threat, but I get the sense that they can distinguish species even when soaring. I fell pretty certain mine can tell a turkey vulture from a red tailed hawk, as they ignore the former, no matter how close, and go berserk over the latter, even if rather high.

 

[centrarchid]

It always amazes me how quickly chickens learn exactly which species actually pose a threat. Certainly swooping behavior is an obvious threat, but I get the sense that they can distinguish species even when soaring. I fell pretty certain mine can tell a turkey vulture from a red tailed hawk, as they ignore the former, no matter how close, and go berserk over the latter, even if rather high.

Distance vision of chickens I think is not as good as ours but they can almost certainly discern hawk species. Red-tails and red-shouldered are pretty similar in size and shape although color to chickens eyes may really separate them. My birds can tell the two species apart with ease. They produce high intensity alarms for red-tails with chicks going straight to cover while the red-shouldered stimulates little more than a whistle indicating bird is flying over. My birds seem unable to distinguish between great-horned and barred owls. Only former is a threat except to the youngest of juveniles. Either way, both of the larger owl species put holy terror into my free-ranging birds. The latter they could whip in a fight I think pretty easy but former even visits with my dog. It does not get any but still visits and brought juveniles in with it late last night.

 

[outdoorsii]

Yea, i was kinda "stinkin thinkin" when I typed up this thread, mainly just bored b/c I have 23 eggs in my incubator LOL & they are a tid over half way through!, plus other's ppl's opinions are (sometimes) nice lol.

I've had the pleasure of getting to raise a little baby coyote (was adorable), a lil fawn, wild baby rabbits, squirrels, a lil pygmy goat, obviously not all at the same time; my dad knew alot of ppl that owned big farms & the fawn was found in a field so small she didnt' even run, but her twin got killed by the farming tractor equipment that guy was using, so we took her in. The coyote was the only 1 out of the whole litter that my dad didn't run over while he was bush-hogging our field w/his tractor & he brought him home...he was the awesomest pet lol besides the fawn of course...up until he started turnin into a WILD coyote lol....

Ginger, our gorgeous lil white tail fawn; she was soft as velvet

Our first rooster (Red) & Millie our lil pygmy goat!, so adorable...

More ginger!

Odie the Coyote, I called him Otis though

 

[centrarchid]

In my limited experience deer inside and pianos do not mix well. Especially if mom finds out. Mom then set limits.

 

[outdoorsii]

In my limited experience deer inside and pianos do not mix well. Especially if mom finds out. Mom then set limits.

LOL what the heck lol....

 

[GlennJapan]

I was thinking today, what IF you were to raise your chickens up with a hawk somehow & they actually got along? Could that even happen I wonder? I mean, b/c then...you'd have a great protector; you could just call in the fighter jet and here she/he comes!!! lol....

Seriously, I wonder if anyone's done this.

I'm a Falconer and also house my Raptors in a Mews. My chickens are free ranging around the home and when my Harris Hawks are tethered on a perch and fed appropriately they do not pay much attention to the chickens. During training periods the chickens are returned to the coop as to not distract the Bird. My Falcons on the other hand wouldn't hesitate to kill a chicken.

The secondary issue is health concerns. Wether the raptor is captive bread or trapped they should never mingle with poultry. This is do too parasiteology and viruses. I also do not have the open viewing area facing the chicken coop.

As for crows. I live in the Japan countryside and I easily have about 20 crows surrounding the area. I've caught more crows eyeballing the coop and my raptors. Crows pretty much exhaust a great amount of effort to harass my flick. My falcons have also killed a few instigators.

A hawk will very easily prey on a Chicken. I've seen this happen more than once on the farm I grew up on in the Rockies.

Harris Hawks are the only social family group hunting cooperatively. Red tail Hawks are independent like the rest of accipiters and crows can easily gang up and chase them off.