Delaware hen killed graphic description

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Well so much for the old wives tail that trees, brush, and bushes are an effective deterrent against hawks. Hawks don't just drop out of the sky like an ICBM to attack your chickens. They normally perch in one of the trees or bushes to "case the joint" before selecting a target. Hawks are also very adept at using brush, fences, hedges, fence corners, and in the video below the coop itself to hem up or corner their prey before they rush in to make the kill. This is why so many of you post about seeing hawks sitting in trees and seemingly scoping out your chickens, they are in fact scoping them out. My condolences for the loss of Jupiter.

Here is how hawks normally make a kill.

That was both horrifying and educational. Oh that poor little thing. What a sad sound. Thank you anyways, for reminding us that this is what we could face.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Alright George, you cranky old gueezer.

cover... in the form of plants... is not an absolute deterrent against raptors.

Free-ranging / yarding hen-only flocks should be against the law.

Two of the things that you stated above are two of the truest things that you've ever posted. I will leave it up to the readers to pick the two out of three statements they wish to take to heart.

Remember that something in every case is better than "NOTHING"

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

Oh my goodness that video was disturbing (informative, but disturbing!) Was that horiffic screaming the hen being eaten alive??? I actually cried for her! I lost a hen about 3 weeks ago the exact same way. She was found under some brush with her head & neck intact, but all of the flesh gone. Also her entire crop was gone. We found a huge possum on top of our run a couple of days ago & assumed he/she was the culprit (possum was removed from the equation care of my 12 year old & his trusty BB gun). *sigh* Either we have a new predator, or the original one is still at large, because now one of our Easter Eggers is missing. No sign at all of her. Not even a feather.

So sorry for your loss. It is horribly painful to lose a hen at all, but doubly so when it is such a violent loss.

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

Should say "I lost a hen the exact same way as you"... not as the video!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

That video is an excellent example why it is important to remember that the word "Hawk" is representative of a very wide variety of birds with totally different routines and habits. Many assume the word refers only to Redtails, but there are many that hunt for squirrel and birds in and amonvst the trees. Their wings are totally different from the broad winged Redtail and can manuever quite readily amongst the limbs and branches. It certainly was surprising to me that the hawk went into the coop in search of its prey....I'd have thought it to be a very rare occassion. Thank you @chickengeorgeto for sharing that and bringing awareness that there are many birds that are and should be thought of when the word "Hawk" is used.....

The "hawk" in the previous video looks like a Cooper's Hawk. Cooper's Hawks are the midsized of the three Chicken Hawks. All true hawks have (including the Red Tail, the Cooper's Hawk, and the Blue Darter (Sharp Shinned) hawk) similar wing structures and hunting strategies. Don't confuse a hawk for a falcon. Falcons usually take winged prey diving on them at a speed sometimes in excess of 200 miles an hour. Falcons are good fliers but they are p*** poor gliders. On the wing a falcon gives the appearance of a nightclub strobe light because its wing beats are so rapid. You can get vertigo from watching a falcon flying. Also a falcon's' wings are knife shaped and slim, while a hawks' wings are shaped more like a shovel, meaning broad and wide..

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Oh my goodness that video was disturbing (informative, but disturbing!) Was that horiffic screaming the hen being eaten alive???.... I lost a hen about 3 weeks ago the exact same way. She was found under some brush with her head & neck intact, but all of the flesh gone... We found a huge possum on top of our run a couple of days ago & assumed he/she was the culprit... Either we have a new predator, or the original one is still at large....

American opossums have weak jaws and teeth. Therefor possums go for the internal organs or guts of its victims. This usually results in you finding an empty husk of a chicken. Any time that you find the remains of a chicken and the bones are mostly still intact, articulated, but defleshed you can bet the Ponderosa that the villain was a raptor.

 

[yellowbee0110]

Oh my goodness that video was disturbing (informative, but disturbing!) Was that horiffic screaming the hen being eaten alive??? I actually cried for her! I lost a hen about 3 weeks ago the exact same way. She was found under some brush with her head & neck intact, but all of the flesh gone. Also her entire crop was gone. We found a huge possum on top of our run a couple of days ago & assumed he/she was the culprit (possum was removed from the equation care of my 12 year old & his trusty BB gun). *sigh* Either we have a new predator, or the original one is still at large, because now one of our Easter Eggers is missing. No sign at all of her. Not even a feather.

So sorry for your loss. It is horribly painful to lose a hen at all, but doubly so when it is such a violent loss.

Sorry for your losses as well! That's too close together...maybe the time of year? Or maybe your EE is just on an adventure and will come home.

Good to know that a BB gun will take out a smallish predator. I have a 14 year old with an airsoft that he just hits targets with. (Once I took out a possum with a shotgun slug because that's all I thought I had and the poor thing got maimed by my dog --- pretty ridiculous overkill.)

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

UGH!!! We have so many raptors in the area!!! Red Tails, Cooper's, Falcons & now a family of Bald Eagles lives on the golf course a mile away from my house.

I thought I recognized the bird in the video as a Cooper's because we had one nesting in an oak tree in our yard last summer that gave me a run for my money. For example: I was the crazy lady that was out in her yard chasing a hawk with a broom to scare her away from the hens!

Seriously, Hawks are gorgeous birds. I love to watch them glide through the sky, they look so majestic... when they are far, far away from my flock!!!

Good to know that a BB gun will take out a smallish predator. I have a 14 year old with an airsoft that he just hits targets with.

Yep! Wasn't too sure about my hubby getting 9 and 12 year old boys their own BB guns, but they have proven exceptionally useful!

 

[josebeth1]

My hens free range in our pastures all day long. We have an alpaca herd, 2 barn cats, and 2 LGD's (livestock guardian dogs) in those pastures as well. For the first time in 9 years, we had a red-tailed hawk grab one of our girls this past spring. Normally, they can't get away with that since our LGD's are always aware of everything happening on the property. It just so happened in that moment the dogs were in front of the barn very distracted with my hubby giving treats and the hawk got the hen behind the barn. In the split second that the hen screeched, my 10-mo old LGD was off so fast it was mind boggling! She got there in time to get the hawk to release; I just barely got there in time to see that the hen was about a foot above the ground in talons. Ever since that day, my pup has been absolutely obsessed with anything that flies overhead--including the crows whom we cultivate precisely because they are great for driving off the hawks. It is interesting, however, that when the crows are actually after a hawk, both LGD's pitch in the best they can from the ground. They obviously work together--totally cool!

And the hen? Well, she was in pretty bad shape--bleeding from her mouth and with an enormous hole in her side that really looked like it could never heal up (especially as there was no skin left to cover that hole. I decided to give it a chance though, and left her in the dark and warmth of a box in my office (chicken infirmary) overnight, fully expecting her to be dead in the morning. She wasn't, and it took 7 weeks and a lot of work, but she did eventually end up back out with the flock. I can't even begin to express the value of good working LGD's--the older has been with me for 9 years now and I'm sure I'll never be without a pair again regardless of what animals I have on the property!

 

[NikAndHerChicks]

I tried to get my hubby to consent to getting a good LGD, he vetoed me. I have heard that geese can be pretty good "watch dogs." Anyone else hear that?