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

[preppy*hippie*chick]

A big hawk could do it & a Great Horned Owl could most definitely do it. I've seen those bad boys in action. When I was a kid we were getting ready to leave for a horse show so were up at pre dawn. We saw a GHO pull a goose right off the bank of the pond. It looked effortless. Yikes!!!

 

[emilyweck]

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OMG, I live in Eugene and I JUST saw the largest Hawk I've ever seen. I was out in the yard with the chickens and I hear a crow squawking and look up to this enormous bird..hawk. Scared the heck out of me. So, all the chickens go in the coop. To answer your question....I didn't think so when you originally posted this, but now....YES!

 

[Galaxiedriver]

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I must ask what did you use to do in the evil coyote?

 

[ChickenDogDuck]

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That would be a handloaded .223 Rem. with a 75 gr. A-Max sleeping pill.

Bill

 

[azelgin]

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OMG, I live in Eugene and I JUST saw the largest Hawk I've ever seen. I was out in the yard with the chickens and I hear a crow squawking and look up to this enormous bird..hawk. Scared the heck out of me. So, all the chickens go in the coop. To answer your question....I didn't think so when you originally posted this, but now....YES!

I was wondering if it was possible for a large hawk to lift a chicken, so I did a little Googling to find out. I came across some very interesting information regarding Golden Eagles, which are approximately three times the weight of the average Red Tailed Hawk. It seems that an 11 pound eagle with a 5 1/4 pound weight attached to its leg was unable to take off. Studies put the lift capacity of Golden Eagles at about 21% of their own weight. That puts the maximum size of prey that could be lifted whole at about three pounds. A Red Tailed Hawk weighs 2~4 pounds. Using the same figures as those for an eagle, a generous estimate would let them lift 1 pound, much less than the average chicken. Here's the link to the information and study:

http://home.sou.edu/~rible/wildlife/goldeagle.html

Here is a short piece of the article:

Interesting notes: One of the more unusual things written about the golden eagle, as is sometimes written about the bald eagle, is its alleged ability to lift large prey off the ground and fly with it to their nest. They have been reported to carry off calves and lambs (Bent 1937; Palmer 1988a), but such prey would have to be unusually small individuals. An experiment performed with one golden eagle weighing 11 pounds found that it could not lift a 5¼ pound weight attached to its feet off of the ground (Arnold 1954). This is a far cry from the 10 to 11 pound capacity that one researcher had estimated (Gilbert 1926). It is thought that the actual weight-carrying capacity is about 21% of the eagle's own weight (Huey 1962). Since golden eagles, males and females combined, can weigh between six to 13 pounds this would put their weight-carrying capacity at between one and three pounds. Another researcher thought that the golden eagle might be able to carry a seven pound jackrabbit a short distance, but that most large prey would have to be "dismantled" before being carried aloft (Palmer 1988a).

 

[Cetawin]

My vote would be for a Eagle...they are much stronger and can carry the weight of a full grown roo for sure.

I am so sorry you lost him.

 

[verlaj]

I have seen coyotes scoping out the chicken yard during broad daylight here. The chicken house and pen are very close to our house. Our dogs were outside, and the last time one of our big dogs was barking. The coyote was assessing the 4 ft horse fence that separated him from the hens. Only when I went out to see what the dog was barking about did the dog take off after the coyote and the coyote take off for the woods. Daylight is not a barrier to these guys, although they are only vocal at night.

 

[Duncan]

Be very careful letting your dogs chase coyotes. They have been known to lure the dog away to the rest of the pack and attack and kill the dogs.

 

[Big dreams]

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This was my first thought too, someone not wanting to hear a rooster crow?

 

[BlackBart]

My Neighbor was loosing his hens. No feathers, no sound, nothing, just vanished.
He raises Hawks and said a wild Hawk would snap the chicken's neck and eat it then and there, so it wasn't a Hawk. He doubted it was a Eagle because there would be feathers left behind from the slight struggle.

He put up three strings of electric fencing wire and no more chickens have diasppeared.
Still don't know what took them. Whatever it was, it was big enough and fast enough the chickens didn't have time to struggle or make a noise. Puff.....gone. Wolf?