Buzzard attack + rant

[brownysfp]

A buzzard killed one of our Barred Rock cockerels this morning; he was taking an early sunbath under the pines when the jerk dropped straight through the branches.
What infuriates me is they're a protected species. Why? There are hundreds of thousands of the bloody things, for ****'s sake!
I know this is the same sort of talk that did for the dodo and the passenger pigeon but we're trying to get a business going here.
The laws don't help: kill goldfinches for the pot, you're a gourmet. Kill buzzards to save your flock, you're a criminal. Arse-about-face country...

 

[pgpoultry]

Buzzards are protected in GB too. We have a large number round here as well as the lighter Red Kite.

I think it must be pretty rare for buzzards to take chickens, though that's little compensation if you've just had a chicken taken.

All of my chickens and chicks free range (over 40) and often from a few days old. Though the buzzards and kites are circling in the sky, I have never lost a bird to them in the about 6 years I have had them. The raptors here tend to live off small rodents, road kill and dead sheep. There is a legal obligation to have dead farm animals incinerated, but some fallen animals in large fields can be missed and the carcass can be stripped to the bone in a matter of hours in the winter when predators are hungry. But I have never lost any chickens to buzzards or kites, though foxes are a constant threat.

Very sorry to hear of you loss, but I don't think it is common for buzzards to take chickens.

 

[Highlander]

I agree he must have been very hungry to go for a grown cockerel. I have had a breeding pair in my area for as long as I have had chickens and they have never expressed an interest, even as pgpoultry said, when there are chicks around. I'm sorry for your bad luck.

 

[Animalian]

First of all that really sucks. They need to invent something to deter birds of prey. It's kidn of annoying how smart they are.

Does the particular species of buzzard have a small range?

That could be why there is heaps of them around but you aren't allowed to kill them. The are lots, but there aren't lots everywhere... if that makes sense. Restricted population etc.

I think Goldfinches would have a wide range, they're very adaptable, we even get them as a pest species here, so killing/eating them wouldn't affect the populations as much.

 

[groundpecker]

I have never heard or seen a buzzard attacking something as big as a chicken. I see at least 5-10 on a daily basis around here. My chickens are not scared at all, and don't care about the buzzards sitting on a limb close by. I am sorry for your loss.

 

[D3invertebrates]

Wow sorry about your bird. Ive never heard of a buzzard doing anything like that. I know here in Texas because were in the middle of the worst drought in known history all the animal are acting really unusual, Ive had more predator problems in the past year than the past 20 combined. I know this isnt just a local effect either I know that the entire world is experiencing unbalanced weather at the moment, do you think that at all contributed to the animals behavior? Its interesting to hear theres laws protecting them in other parts of the world its the same here and Ive never understood why Ive seen hundreds maybe even thousands at once there definitely not endangered. I remember as a child I was always warned to leave them alone cause apparently when you try to kill them there hard to kill and theyll attack you if you try lol. Not sure if there was any truth to that, but I know it kept me from wanting to find out.

 

[Highlander]

Remember that a buzzard in Europe is a raptor, not a vulture as in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Buzzard

 

[brownysfp]

We've a pair about a mile away one direction and another pair about two miles in the opposite. It's the near pair that have caused problems all year; after a few attacks, successful and not so, we netted parts of the garden and put up breaks for the chickens to get under in addition to the natural cover. This particular bird has worked out an approach through the woods. There's a pair of red kites somewhere nearby but they've never tried anything.
Funny but we were only chatting about predators over a beer or three after the Armistice Day ceremony on Friday. Most of them keep a few chickens and other poultry and all are concerned about les reynards - foxes...of which we've seen none. Perhaps the geese keep them away but don't deter buzzards.

 

[aprophet]

black vultures do it here just not all the time I do not know what happened to all the turkey vultures I used to see ther were just gone one week

 

[AspiringUrbaniteFarmer]

I recently did some research after a vulture was perched up on a dead palm in my yard. Apparently if a vulture takes a live animal it's b/c it's young or sick. They usually only prey on dead things here.