Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

Is this the possible surprise...... new pets

Sure There are resources out there that take care of them & they do it.. Plus if you watch stories of other animals that have been with humans, it’s possible.. Hopefully when they get old enough the other wild packs don’t come into their territory..

 

[City farm]

It's 0600 and I'm driving thru downtown Phoenix as the sun rises. Got my windows down and the sun roof open. It's gorgeous!

Love having the windows & door’s open & listening to the bird’s..

 

[igorsMistress]

Love having the windows & door’s open & listening to the bird’s..

At home, yes. I had rock music blaring while driving today. A departure from the norm, I usually drive in silence. My life is loud.

 

[cactusrota]

Knowing a hawk has eyes on my snack sized chicks made the evening transfer from pen to brooder a little nerve wracking, but everyone is tucked in safe for the night. I can't wait to have the coop done.

It's that time of year. All the juveniles are dispersing from the nesting territories and venturing out on their first fall migration. They don't know their limits yet and will try anything. If you can make any attempt at chickens a bad/scary experience it should curb future attempts. Unless they've already had success on someone elses chickens, then it may be too late.
Just for reference, here's a pic of adult coopers hawks, and juvenile coopers hawks. Note: the female is the bigger of the two in both pics.

 

[Geranium]

@cactusrota both times I've seen the hawk I ran at her, hollering and waving my arms, and she flew off. I don't know of anyone near me with chickens, but the people behind us feed doves and pigeons and there's a ton that hang around, so I'm sure the hawk may have made a meal of one of them. I saw her up in the air today being harassed by a crow. Hopefully she'll move along but I imagine if she's getting dove snacks she'll want to stick around.

 

[meetthebubus]

I would do a 360 enclosure... no worries on air predators... remember everyone wants chicken... humans, cats, dogs, prey birds, wild life....

 

[meetthebubus]

Anyone know much info on speckled sussex? I can find the basic pics and egg laying info but what I'd like to know is how they grow... comb, size, growth rate, tail, coloring for male vs female etc. Or a good website to find this lol

 

[DesertChic]

Hawk later dive bombed the chick pen. The chicks are safe where they're at but uhg hawks. I think it's a Cooper's Hawk.

I've had a massive Red Hawk scouting out my flocks. Luckily my 13 roosters do a fantastic job of both sounding the alarm and hurrying the girls to sheltered area, giving me time to react. It turns out that hawks don't like being blasted by a water hose. It should be grateful that that's what I had immediately handy instead of my rifle or crossbow.

 

[DesertChic]

@cactusrota both times I've seen the hawk I ran at her, hollering and waving my arms, and she flew off. I don't know of anyone near me with chickens, but the people behind us feed doves and pigeons and there's a ton that hang around, so I'm sure the hawk may have made a meal of one of them. I saw her up in the air today being harassed by a crow. Hopefully she'll move along but I imagine if she's getting dove snacks she'll want to stick around.

Being harassed by a crow is VERY good for getting rid of her. Typically you won't have many hawks if you have a lot of crows around.

 

[Geranium]

My coop will be tight as a drum. The run will be mostly sheltered from the sky, and the sides will be wired/fenced to protect from ground predators. We don't get many predators in the neighborhood i'm in. Mostly just hawks and cats, although I haven't seen cats since our dogs arrived to the yard. Planning to run some poultry netting over the top of the areas of run that don't have cover, after this hawk visit.