Are Black chickens safer free ranging ?

[chickengeorgeto]

... Here in N.E. we have Big Crows and Crows HATE Hawks. If Crows are around the hawks don't play, they go elsewhere so they are not bothered.... I have noticed that [if] Crows have been around... there are no Hawks around that day... So I wondered if you had Black Chickens if the hawks would think they were Crows[?].......

Crows, and ravens too, hate hawks because hawks love crows and ravens, love to eat their young that is. If the conditions are right they are also not above eating the odd adult. To better understand crows pay attention to the ever present Blue Jay. Blue Jays are just mini versions of a crow, even their call is similar if not their coloring. I have seen more Blue Jays with bloody murder on their minds chasing crows than I have seen crows harnessing owls or hawks. All members of the Blue Jay family respond with speed to an alarm call from a member of their own species.

The raven was persecuted hard by our free range chicken owning ancestors. This is no longer the case. Before long chicken stewards will be once more vilifying ravens as the chicken killing beast that they always were.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I once saw a hummingbird chase off a redtailed hawk. The neighbors had 2 nectar feeders and this individual, named Julius Caesar, decided both belonged to him. He'd perch on the power lines in front of their house and chase off any other hummingbird....

That is male humming bird mating behavior. Just as our roosters attempt to control a prime mating or feeding ground, boy hummers try to monopolize a prime feeding territory and mate with every female who visits it. As opposed to lets say Falcons, hawks are a land predator who also just happens to fly.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

But i do think darker birds in general fair better because they blend in better.... how easy it would be to spot a stark white chicken versus a brown one from way up high.... hawks have incredible sight, but if the bird was far away the chances are greater of it spotting a white chicken than a brown one....

That could be true except that most hawk attacks originate from perches in trees, or on power poles, or from roof tops, or in the case of the accompning video from ground level. The likely hood of a hen avoiding becoming hawk chow rests in her FLIGHTINESS and her athletic ability to avoid danger. The truth is that the fat, the slow, the complacent, and the dumb chickens are always the first to die from hawk attacks. There is a good reason that your hens try to avoid letting you to catch them or that your chicks panic and scatter when you stand glaring down over them and that reason is hawks.

 

[silkiegardens]

Despite what anyone else says, having darker colored chickens versus lighter colored chickens can only make a positive difference in flock security from aerial predators. Many people have known for this to be effective for them as well, so you just have to see for yourself. But it's basic science that your chicken will be less visible, and aerial predators will be less likely to identify it as a chicken at a glance if it is black or more likely to mistake it as a crow.

 

[dekel18042]

I thought I would throw this out there because I can't find the answer.

Here in N.E. we have Big Crows and Crows HATE Hawks. If Crows are around the hawks don't play, they go elsewhere so they are not bothered. I have noticed that here that is Crows have been around that morning there are no Hawks around that day at all.

So I wondered if you had Black Chickens if the hawks would think they were Crows and not bother.

i am NOT talking about little Silkies, but bigger like Australorps, Black Jersey Giants etc...

I did read somewhere that jungle fowl coloring didn't really help because predators are looking for that type of color.
We don't have Green chickens so .......

I've had chickens forever, many breeds and all sizes. Hawks tend to hone in on the smaller chickens while leaving the larger ones alone, hence people often put a turkey or goose with their chickens.
I had the little bantam in my avatar for over eight years. One day I heard the chickens' warning cry and raced out. The large fowl roosters were shepherding the hens under a large lilac bush or back into the covered runs.
The hawk came swooping in between two coops and runs and the little bantam (named the Mouseketeer because he was so small) rose into the air to meet him and the hawk rose up and fled.