Could a Hawk Carry off HUGE Rooster??????? ROO VANISHED

[Little Chicken Farmers]

Our beloved HUGE RIR Roo disapeared yesterday. No sign of anything... no feathers....no body/blood..... nothing!!! He was a REALLY big roo like 3x the size of my hens. Could a Hawk have grabbed him and took off? We have had chickens for a year and let them free range on our 5 acres. Never had ANY predator problems. They go in a locked house at night and run free all day. I am worried about my hens.... they are lost without him.... and possible at risk ?? I see hawks flying around pretty high up here and there but they have never bothered us.

Is it going to freak them out if I try to find a new mature Roo??

Thanks BYC Peeps!

 

[chickensioux]

I'm not sure a hawk would do that. Although anything is possible. Could it have been some other ground predator? Dog, bobcat, coyote? These are the kind that would run off with something. A hawk is more likely to kill it on the ground and eat what it can quickly. Sorry for your loss.

 

[azelgin]

I wouldn't think so. From what I've heard, chickens are to heavy to be carted off and are eaten on site. Big pile of feathers and bones left behind. Makes sense to me. Chickens can't fly and they're almost as big as a hawk. How could a hawk fly off with some thing that heavy? I've seen them have trouble getting airbone with cottontail rabbits. I lost my only SLW rooster just as you described. No trace of evidence. Except for some tire tracks and fresh dog prints. I suspect a relitive that dropped by with his nutso dog, while I was gone. Crime scene was sanitized to prevent a family fued.

 

[Little Chicken Farmers]

I dont think it was a ground predator only because the propety is completely fenced.... no dogs..... I am pretty sure it was day time because we shut the door at night and a coyote wouldnt come up here during the day......and..... we have a black lab who feels it is his personal mission to protect everything on the property... (including the cats and the chickens)..... Anything is possible but we were home and didnt here or see anything..... He really just vanished!!!! We dont really have any other predators around here.....least not the day time..... raccons at night.....

 

[azelgin]

Maybe an eagle? I know you guys get a few through there, at times. I've seen desperate Bald Eagles take out seagulls. My neighbor lost all her ducks to an owl, but they were all night attacks.

 

[artsyrobin]

I was thinking an eagle too, my folks lived in washington and it wasn't uncommon for folks to lose small dogs to them....

 

[Brick243]

Had two young pullets killed by a small hawk this week. It ate them where he killed them. Both dogs are usually in the back with the chickens, guess they took a coffee break up front that day. I told them both that good help was hard to find. This was my first loss to a hawk that I know of.

 

[Notachicken]

Is it possible that it might have been a HUMAN predator? Around here anythig is possible......

 

[Chicks R Friends NOT Food]

I've read in other posts that a grown hawk can and will take a huge chicken without a trace and that the ones you see eating on the spot are yourger ones who haven't improved their skills yet. *Just what I've read.

 

[LynneP]

Members of the weasel family will take them away, especially fisher cats.
Foxes.
Golden Eagle or large hawk.
All will return.

It would be typical of a fisher cat to remove the largest threat first, the rooster. Ensuing visits will be fast and sequential.