do hawks REALLY eat grown chickens?

[chixrus]

will turkey vultures kill chickens or will they just eat the dead ones?

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

We had a hawk go after our Japanese bantam hen because, little scamp that she is, she escaped the run that day. We were very thankful our d'Uccle was with her able to jump the fence also. We have reason believe he faught the hawk off of his hen, because he's a very feisty guy. We found her a few minutes later hiding in the coop with only a few missing feathers and her mate protecting her. I've heard of friends who lose full grown ducks to hawks around here so why not chickens?

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Raptors, hawks, and falcons usually hit their prey from above stunning the animal. With their iron grip, the animal is usually unable to breathe. Most birds of prey have notched beaks and use this to break the vertebrae where the head and neck of the animal are connected.

As the hawk is doing this it is also mantling his/her prey. Mantling means covering the downed animal with its wings. This is to hide if from other predators. Usually if the prey is not too large, the hawk will take the dead prey to a safer area to be eaten.

What is usually seen is immature hawks who have not yet sharpened their skills and that is what most of us see. Most of the time the “hit” is so skillful that one just says, “One of my chickens disappeared the other day and I cannot find it anywhere”. Ta da!

 

[Guinea Goonie]

HECK YES !! They will gladly kill your favorite adult chicken and eat it right in front of you.

Leghorns and polish HENS are their favorites in my pasture.

 

[basicliving]

My Silver Leghorn that the hawk got last week weighed around 6.5 pounds. He did not carry her off and ate her where she fell.

The hawk that attacked my little Golden Penciled Hamburg last week was not much bigger than she. Thank heavens we saw it and scared the hawk off before he caused much more damage other than just missing feathers. And now that I've been keeping the chickens penned, the hawk(s) keep going right up to the fence and terrifying my poor chickens. Thank heavens their run is covered with netting.

Whoever decided Hawks should be on the endangered species list hasn't been around here lately, I guarantee.

 

[giasmom]

Hey my dad just lost a 5 1/2 year old RIR rooster to a HUGE redhawk !!!! That rooster was his favorite pet. Oh Roostie , sure will be missed !!!

 

[nicktide]

I lost a hen to a hawk that was smaller than she was. It was a crow sized hawk and when I saw it it was eating it there in my yard.

 

[kees]

Yup, just lost another one today to the same durn hawk.

Suzy

 

[lickskillet]

Thanks gosh my chickens have a run with chicken wire on top! This hawk and it's mate have made a nest just behind our coop across the creek, I can see it (the nest) from the back of the coop. I don't think it's a red tail, maybe a red shoulder... I took this picture yesterday.

 

[kees]

Nice picture but bad, bad hawk.

Suzy