Devastated

[MissChick@dee]

Sorry for your loss.
Trimming their wings is a good idea.
You need to provide protection for chickens especially a coop at night.
You can train chickens but first it takes work on your part.
If you’d like to teach your children a different lesson other than chickens are prey to just about everything then start anew.
It not too late to do something.
A lot of people think like your boyfriend....thinking that a hawk just swoops in and carry’s the bird away. A VERY large raptor could yes...Eagles for example.
The truth is they will kill them on the ground. Younger inexperienced hunters leave a lot of walking wounded chickens.
You must take action if you want a different outcome for your flock. It’s only a matter of time till the next predator kills one.
Or if there’s just something inside you that feels they need to be free then advice is a moot issue.
I don’t mean to sound harsh
But circumstances and consequences will not change until you change them. Best wishes

 

[50-45-1]

I have lost many chickens to the smaller sharp shinned hawks who liked to swoop thru the yard and pick up a smaller chick. Also the larger coopers hawk who would ambush full grown chicken and eat what he likes and leave the rest. Both of these are smaller than the redtail hawk. Quite a few hawks are migrating now depending on your location, and will attack and eat what they can. Younger birds also can be quite bold as they are almost starving as there hunting skills are still developing.
These majestic hunters are beatiful and protected. they play a large part of keeping rodents populations down as they mostly eat mice and such.
Every thing eats chicken, and chickens are defenseless. They depend on you to protect them as best you can.

 

[Sricher91]

Thanks. Last question - would getting a roo make my girls any safer when they free range? I’m not opposed to it, just wouldn’t know how to introduce, etc

 

[50-45-1]

A good rooster will keep lookout and sound the alarm when sighting a preditor. No rooster can win a fight with a hawk in the long run though. I have lost roosters to hawks too.
An ocasional rooster will run to the aid of one of his hens in distress, but not that many i think. Plus if that preditor is a fox or coyotte, then you loose your rooster to.
The best solution is a secure coop and run.

 

[GodofPecking]

Very long time freerange chicken breeder here, have had many kinds of chickens including yours and even more kinds of predators too. Not often you get peoples pet ferrets in your yard, lol.

Trimming wings is never appropriate for free range chickens, why would you do that ?

Yes the predator will be back, for your flock, if that is all of them, I don't notice a rooster ? Generally it's just the roosters and the hens with chicks who will sound an alarm to the other birds in the flock. The Chickens have a call specific to each kind of predator, so when say a crow flies over, all the roosters sound off a crow imitation. The one who spotted the crow is first to be heard and the others chime in as fast as they can. Hens are not so much into this, they need to protect themselves more than roosters, who are always too numerous.

Catching and killing predators is especially effective for territorial predators, it gives some relief until the new ones come to fill the void. Works well for things like foxes. Covering the chicken run is a good idea for you, but building a bird trap into the cage-run top is also a brilliant idea, as you'd be making it anyway. Then they'd do better on the loose, your chooks that is.

I can't find the kind of trap that I mean to describe, it has the top of the run come don gently like a funnel into a flat rectangle like a picture frame laying down, but 6 foot or so off the ground. predators land on top of the cage and move about until they drop through the rectangle of wood, then cant find their way out and you can deal with them. Your chickens are in the smaller run and coop inside the larger run. So each morning until you let them out, it's a trap.

Heligoland is another kind of trap you could build into your chicken coop for predators, but it is not the right one really. But it gives you some idea of what I mean I guess.

 

[GodofPecking]

Roosters introduce themselves to the flock, and as yours has no existing rooster, just go for it. nothing needed. no prep, no problems. Its what roosters do when there are just hens

 

[GodofPecking]

Does anybody know if a small hawk would take a full sized chicken? My boyfriend says no way, but I’m pretty sure I read on here that it does happen?

every predator has eyes bigger than it's stomach, same as people confronted with cooked chicken pieces, if they're free, how any do you want ? same principle for predators as for kids.

The roosters would sound and propagate the alarm calls for predators, and then you'd lose a bit less. It would help.

It is harder for the predator to kill an alert chicken. end of story

 

[Sricher91]

every predator has eyes bigger than it's stomach, same as people confronted with cooked chicken pieces, if they're free, how any do you want ? same principle for predators as for kids.

The roosters would sound and propagate the alarm calls for predators, and then you'd lose a bit less. It would help.

It is harder for the predator to kill an alert chicken. end of story

So you think a rooster is a good idea? I friend has one that’s 6 months old and I’m thinking of going tomorrow and grabbing him. When we first got our chickens we were advised not to get a rooster because I’d their loudness. That doesn’t bother me though, I want my girls as safe as possible. I really don’t want them caged 24/7 =\ I haven’t seen any other predators (like foxes or coyotes) at all and we’ve lived at this house for a long time. So right now I’m definitely most worried about hawks. All of big hens were smart enough to take cover under a large bush. I’m not sure what my little girl was thinking I think she was separated from the flock (which is typical like I said they don’t get along) and was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Sricher91]

Sorry for all the typos I have two children crawling all over me —__—

 

[GodofPecking]

Yes, get a rooster its a good idea. Eating their eggs is not, no amount of seasoning works well Ive found after much testing. Only eat hens eggs.

Every rooster has a different call, even brothers have different calls. They will crow at any and all hours day or night, but at night it's usually because they, or a rooster they can hear, have been disturbed by a predator. This can be as small as a rat or cat. So there is a bit of noise.

Watch some videos or laughing roosters, you will not find any laughing roosters yourself, but also look at bantam roosters, they have some cool little crows. but just get your friends rooster today ! start there. full size rooster is a good idea.

naked neck roosters are pretty much silent in my experience