I know this is a very old post, but hoping you might solve a mystery. My very large cochin was found dead in the yard with neck injuries. A coyote would have taken the whole animal. Could this chicken have been too large for a hawk to fly off with? Thanks.YES. We've lost 2 large chickens to hawks. The hawks killed them as we were right outside with them. Some hawks have no fear whatsoever. They swooped down and got them straight in their necks.
Do you know whether it happened at night or during the day and can you say where you found it? Minks don't stop at one.They'll kill as many as they can catch like a weasel. Most predators won't kill one just to be killing it either but some kill for sport.Thanks!
I've had my chickens which are a combination of medium and small for 7 years free-ranging over a large area and never lost one (and they're all still healthy, energetic, happy, with two still laying eggs every few days even at their old age with no lights in their coop). We've always had hawks and other birds of prey around, but I didn't worry because there are woods, swamps, and lots of fields with rabbits, snakes, small birds, fish, frogs, mice, etc. Lots of other sources of small easy to catch food. So I figured they wouldn't go after chickens unless desperate in the middle of winter. Plus my chicks have a lot of places to hide - woods, their coop, under the raised deck, under trees and bushes. But I just witnessed today at the beginning of November in Northern Ohio, with high 50's temps, everything still pretty green, no snow, nothing frozen over, mild weather with plenty of other food still around, when I was bringing my chicks out in the morning, a Cooper's hawk swooped down right next to me and tried to snatch one of my chickens. My chicken saw it before I did, and ran squawking up against a nearby fence under a bush so the hawk didn't get it. Then the hawk proceeded to fly high up into my neighbor's tree, and then swooped back down at his flock of ducks, which are really big ducks, sending them quacking and scattering in all directions, but it didn't get any of them either. Then it flew off and I didn't see it again. I'm just shocked it was attempting to kill such large prey. Now I'm actually worried about my cat too because it's smaller than the chickens and ducks. I'm just glad there's plenty of shelter out there, but also there is some very open ground which I'm sure they'll all be avoiding for a while.YES. We've lost 2 large chickens to hawks. The hawks killed them as we were right outside with them. Some hawks have no fear whatsoever. They swooped down and got them straight in their necks.
