Birds of Prey:0 Me:2

[apryl29]

Happy to hear you were able to stop the attack. I lost a sebright bantam a couple weeks ago to a hawk. Scared the rest of my birds into the woods & they were gone for hours. Thankfully they came back to the coop when it started getting dark. I swear it was watching for me to leave the area to go after them. My bantam roo tried his best to save her, but he was just too little. I hope she's ok when you find her.

 

[Trevorusn]

I honestly do not handle them because they can get quite aggressive and they are very large. Judging by their size and how hard they can kick, I would say that they are about 10 lb. I got kicked by Squatch about 2 months ago and he left a footprint bruise on my knee!

Really?? Wow, that is rather impressive honestly. Mine was getting aggressive but I handled it and he has tamed quite comsiderably but still has his alert personality.

 

[FortCluck]

Love the fishing line idea!! Would you be willing to post a photo of it?

I think you'll be able to see it if you blow up the image. We need to add a bit more.

Where the hawk was, was on the other side of the yard and there's a bit less of the fishing line because we ran out, but I will be buying another roll.
The dog kennel has fishing line too only a foot apart because my chicks are in there. This pic was taken before the chicks were in there.

It's hard to see on this pic, but a hawk can clearly see the obstacle which stops them. a friend of mine has used this technique for over 10 years and shared it with me. It's not 100% fool proof or predator prood, but it does work to an extent.

The hawk was right where the second red sex link is. We need to put more fishing line, but I am always home so I usually can react pretty quick.

 

[FortCluck]

Really?? Wow, that is rather impressive honestly. Mine was getting aggressive but I handled it and he has tamed quite comsiderably but still has his alert personality.

I just leave them be. They are great and nice until you try to touch them. They like their distance and so don't I. I handle all my hens though.

 

[FortCluck]

That is awesome!!! Have you ever weighed them?? If I remember they are close to mine in age, the 6-8 month range right?

Here's a picture of them near my 13 lb puggle. She's not scared of the beasts.

And this is one of their offspring (from Squatch) at 18 days old!

 

[FortCluck]

Happy to hear you were able to stop the attack. I lost a sebright bantam a couple weeks ago to a hawk. Scared the rest of my birds into the woods & they were gone for hours. Thankfully they came back to the coop when it started getting dark. I swear it was watching for me to leave the area to go after them. My bantam roo tried his best to save her, but he was just too little. I hope she's ok when you find her.

I only saw about 15 feathers, so I'm hoping that it didn't do any damage to her. Our white Cochin was attacked before we even got the Jersey Giants, but she got free by fighting the hawk in the air and she got torn under her wing by its talon. It only took a day for her to heal from it and now she is healthy laying eggs and I just hatched some of her eggs.

I'm sorry for your loss

I can't get over how beautiful this bird was though! The talons on it were quite intimidating, but I wasn't going to harm it. I think it knew that. I kept talking to it as I approached it and it seemed to calm down.

 

[cmom]

It was an Osprey I think...

https://www.audubon.org/news/the-saga-continues-bailey-beleaguered-hog-island-osprey

That would be odd, ospreys are piscivores.

The osprey's nick name is fish hawk.

 

[FortCluck]

The osprey's nick name is fish hawk.

It looked identical to it... I was so close I could see every detail. Maybe a hawk that looks just like it I could even see it's eyes and color pattern. I'm in VA so I looked up birds of prey in Virginia and that was the only one that looked like it.

 

[FortCluck]

Whatever it was, it was so incredibly gorgeous that it took my breath away!

 

[FortCluck]

I honestly grabbed my phone so that I could take a picture of it, but I was too into helping it to even grab a picture. I didn't want it to get injured on my fencing.