Arizona Chickens

[LadyKotaDoria]

I believe the local Hawks have found my yard today. My girls saw them first, three of them. While I work on my garden I have been letting them lose in the yard. I had been getting phone calls, running in and out, leaving them alone for a few seconds time enough for a hawk to nab one of my girls. A wake up call. I am glad that they are such easy girls, it took so time to round them up and get them safe in their covered pen. They were red tail, I am going to have to review this section for predictor advice. I think red tail is the larger of our Arizona Hawks, chicken is always on their menu. I remember we talking about them. I knew I was in the territory of a couple of hawks, I hadn't seen them sense I got my girls. I was hoping they left.

 

[Mahonri]

I've had a goodly number of my chickens taken by hawks..... and then I realized (duh for me) I just could not allow them to free range unless I was with them every minute. I also figured out an alarm of sorts so that if I even saw a helicopter, I would make the sound and they would either stand VERY still or immediately run for the coop!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Do
Quote: Age for beginning to lay depends on breed. Earliest start at about 4 months; latest is usually about 10, but I've had at least one girl who was a good year and a half.

 

[maryhysong]

Age for beginning to lay depends on breed. Earliest start at about 4 months; latest is usually about 10, but I've had at least one girl who was a good year and a half.

Any bird that takes that long to lay around here is called chicken and dumplings! I don't care if they are the best SQ bird in the flock, if they are not productive then they are not sticking around and sucking up expensive feed. Fast growth, quick to feather, first to lay, those are some of the things I cull on.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Some breeds simply do not lay early. FWIW, the breeds that start laying later tend to lay for a much longer span of time, as well as being longer lived.

The only productivity I care about is offspring.

 

[rufus]

My Harris hawks are back again this year. I saw them yesterday giving a flock of pigeons a hard time. They are welcome to all the pigeons and stray cats they can carry off.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Real cute one!

 

[kamperkate]

I just had my first chicken taken by a hawk today too...My older birds free range, but my three newest/smallest were in the coop with only a small opening so the other birds could get in and out...looks like a hawk got in...because my little white ee is gone and my other ee is looking around and calling out for her...I feel terrible about it. I had always had the intention of letting my birds free range during the day so my coop/run is not quite big enough to house them full time- I may have to build a second coop. Are there any ways to prevent hawks/scare them away- the one I've seen seems fearless and lets me get within a few feet of him. Generally my turkeys seem to protect the flock fairly well but all of my birds were on the opposite side of my from the coop when this happened. Can hawks take down adult chickens? My rhode islands seem bigger than the hawk that I've seen- I'm sure the turkeys are safe...but what about adult silkies?

 

[kamperkate]

On a happier note I got these two little guys at a local feed store- they are so tiny and were being picked on. So far they been kept indoors. When I let them out of their mini coop they come running to me and want to sit with me and hop up on my shoulder. I've been told the light one is most likely a Japanese Bantam, I don't know about the darker one...anyone?


The two of them love to be together...

 

[maryhysong]

I just had my first chicken taken by a hawk today too...My older birds free range, but my three newest/smallest were in the coop with only a small opening so the other birds could get in and out...looks like a hawk got in...because my little white ee is gone and my other ee is looking around and calling out for her...I feel terrible about it. I had always had the intention of letting my birds free range during the day so my coop/run is not quite big enough to house them full time- I may have to build a second coop. Are there any ways to prevent hawks/scare them away- the one I've seen seems fearless and lets me get within a few feet of him. Generally my turkeys seem to protect the flock fairly well but all of my birds were on the opposite side of my from the coop when this happened. Can hawks take down adult chickens? My rhode islands seem bigger than the hawk that I've seen- I'm sure the turkeys are safe...but what about adult silkies?

"Dragonlady" here on BYC has posted in the Orpington thread a pic of what she did. Tall post in the center of an area, then used fishing line to weave back and forth like a spider web like 10 feet in the air. Says that so far the hawks have not braved trying to come through it tho they do fly close to it.