Crazy Hawk Survival Stories

[AnnaK13]

So about a year and a half ago, my polish crested, Florence

, finally grew up. I bring my chickens outside in my backyard a ton, and one day when I was sitting at a lawn table about ten feet away from Flo (maybe not even that), something fuzzy and brown flew down and barreled her over. Poofs of feathers began to fly, and in extreme distress, I got up, running over to my chicken and the thing that was on top of her. I grabbed the brown creature without thinking, and turned it over, and was partially confused by a face that possessed some appearance of kinship to the bird it was attacking. It took me a few moments longer to realize that I was staring into the yellow eyes of a juvenile hawk. It didn't flap, or kick. In fact, it didn't move at all, it just watched me as if in total shock. I like to imagine his parents sat up in their tree saying "I knew that kid would be trouble."

. I threw the hawk to the grass and ran to my chicken that was crouched on the ground, and found that by some awful amount of luck, she sustained no injuries other than plucked feathers!

I've got some bold predators in my neighborhood! I'm convinced I have a hawk nursery in my backyard...

Anybody else have any stories of close calls with hawks or other predators?

 

[BuffOrpington88]

That is so funny! I like how the hawk didn't even move it was so stunned! One time my chickens were in the run of their tractor and I saw a hawk fly by the window really fast. So I go outside and the it's a young hawk who has just flown into the side of the run trying to get the chickens. It bounces up and flies away. However, one of my hens was right next to the fence and got surprised by it, jerked her head up and got her comb caught on the hardware cloth. She ripped like half of her comb off! It was awful and she was bleeding like a stuck pig. The problem is, she kept shaking her head so the blood would splatter everywhere and it was super difficult to get it to stop!

Long story short, she is completely fine now. Wow, as I'm typing this, I'm just realizing how gross and gory this is! Sorry lol! But I'd still say it's pretty crazy!

 

[AnnaK13]

Omg that is crazy!!

I was once sitting inside my coop when a hawk flew out of nowhere and tried to get the chickens through the clear plastic roof!
Its really kinda scary!

 

[Gresh]

Last year, I had two insane hawk attacks that, fortunately, had happy endings.

One day, my young cockerel was at the top of a hill at my house, pecking the sunflower seed off the ground from under our wild bird feeders. I stepped inside for a moment, and then heard something strange outside. I stepped out, and he was not on the top of the hill anymore. So I ran to the hill, looked over the side, and there, at the bottom, was a red-tailed hawk, stooping over the frightened form of my cockerel. I took a stick and swatted the hawk several times, trying to get it to fly away. It did not, however. It stopped mauling my cockerel (who ran away unharmed and grew up to be one of my best roosters), and sat there absolutely stupified. I stopped swatting it, afraid I had fatally wounded it and that the Feds had put a tracking device in it and would be at my door the next day to arrest me for killing a bird of prey. I ran back to the house, and a few minutes later looked out the window. The hawk had walked up the hill, but was still acting strange. A few minutes later, however, my fears of the Feds coming vanished, for the hawk flew away like nothing ever happened.

Later that same year, a small chicken hawk attacked one of my pullets (which also survived), and I swatted the hawk off of her with a broom. The hawk turned and looked at me, and for a moment I thought it would attack my face, but instead it flew off as fast as it could.

Ever since those two attacks, I have not had a single problem with hawks.

 

[Ole rooster]

In the last few years I've lost4 chickens to hawks. Two to a fox, I think. One to an otter and one to my new dog. She didn't get the chicken, I think she scared her to death. But I had a hawk come around a few months ago, again, and the new GS actually got the hawk and tore in into pieces. Hawk feathers all over the place. She wasn't but 18 months old but is really turning into a protector. Now she has made buddies with some of my young pullets and gives me no more trouble. Now I hear hawks all the time, but not on the ground anymore. Now I have a hawk hunter.