Chickens roosting with a red-tailed hawk??? **PICS** one dead!!!!

[Nifty-Chicken]

Sorry for your loss, but boy, that's a beautiful animal.

Yes, a picture of the hawk roosting with chickens would have been the coolest thing ever, but the pics of a cop holding it with bare hands is pretty cool too, thanks for sharing!

 

[doghamstyluv95]

Im so sorry for your loss! But that hawk is beautiful! If you got a pic of them roosting together, you could put it on National Geographic. Headline! Chicken Hawk?!?!?

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Who knew you could call the cops on your predators?!?!?

I'm lucky ... I haven't had problems yet...but when I do.... "Book'em Dano!!"

{Very sorry for your loss-hope this ends it for you!} :aww

 

[broncbuster07]

IMO- This is how it went down: The hawk, being a young hawk, is not yet a skilled hunter and doesn't know that he has to catch and kill his prey early enough that he has time to eat it. So, he catches and kills the chicken and starts eating it, starting with the head as hawks do. They start with the head because it's the easiest first few bites, and they eat everything but the entrails (guts), even the legs and feet. Well, he's eating his dinner and being distracted by the other chickens as it starts getting dark. The other chickens start heading to the roosts, whether it be in the coop or in the tree. The hawk makes a move for the RIR as she's heading into the coop, and almost gets her by her leg. She gets away and the hawk finds himself inside the coop and it freaks him out so he tries to fly out, but there's no way out except through the door that he came in. He doesn't remember how he got in because he was persuing the RIR at the time. So, by then it's completely night and he decides he'll figure it out in the morning. And the rest is history!
Just my opinion.
Get some goats or some dark colored turkeys to deterr any more hawks.

 

[debashan]

I've had a red-tailed hawk sitting on the enclosed run for the last couple of days. Scares my chickens half to death, they run inside and make some really funny noises. They also seem to stretch up to look about 2 feet tall.

 

[thndrdancr]

Yea, but hawks have to rip the flesh with their beaks, and it doesnt sound like how that chicken was with the missing head. There would be rips of flesh.

I also am wondering if someone raised it, no way would a wild one be that calm in the cops hands. Even when I tried to help that baby robin, it struggled and wiggled. He is not holding it upside down, so it should have been totally freaked.

Sure is gorgeous bird.

Jill

 

[broncbuster07]

My dad is the animal control officer for Ellis Co. Sherriff's Dept. and he has brought several hawks and owls to my house to release them. They are always calm, especially at night for the hawks, and especially in the day for the owls. Sometimes, we even have trouble getting them to fly off.

 

[cknmom]

Just read a post from Justusnak. Sending you to an article on identifying predators. Good info. http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/2/2-4/GailDamerow.html

 

[foxtrapper]

From your description and the size of the hawk, I'd suspect you had a coon or such in there that killed the chicken, and that it's coincidental that you had a hawk in there.

Yes, a hawk can kill a chicken. But that one is small, and unlikely to hunt them...yet. When a hawk kills and eats, it rips strips of flesh with its beak. It is incapable of gnawing things, and dines accordingly. Typical signs of a hawk attack and feeding are a dead carcass with strips of flesh torn off.

A hawk does not gorge on food. That is something else to remember when identifying the predator.

 

[skatcatla]

How COMPLETELY bizarre! I have absolutely no idea what happened to your poor BR..so sorry for your loss.

That is a gorgeous raptor though.