Well, I have. Two actually. Two of my sweet little baby silkies are dead because they were dumb. They like to sit on the piece of wood that goes around the bottom of the tractor, and were apparently more curious than worried about the hawk (or large falcon) that swooped down for a meal. It killed two of the three before I walked outside and scared it away - only to a nearby branch until I threw a tennis ball at it and it flew away. Luckily I went outside before it did the deed to the third one, who was hunched down next to her dead brother, obviously not knowing what else to do! All of the other birds in there were hunkered down inside in nest boxes, very very scared! I am going to the feed store right now to see if they have some fake owls. Naturally, it got my ONLY splash silkie!! I guess if anything here is good, the one that's still alive is the better of my two blues...and I think it's a girl...they are only 10 1/2 weeks old. First loss I've actually bawled over...
So sorry. That's amazing that the hawk (or whatever it was) would actually attack them through wire...I would never have thought that possible.
Wow so sorry. Thats a bummer. That hawk wanted them bad. I have had one hit the top of my chicken wire run trying to get to the girls. Since then I use 1/2" or smaller welded wire. It is more expensive and heavier but no varmits can get thru it. My DH welded my last pen together. We live on the creek and have too many things tring to get free chicken dinner.
I've had that happen here before, a hawk landed on the ground & killed a chick by pecking at it through the wire of the tractor. I had some buckets on their sides on the ground for them to go into when they were cold or sleepy and the bottoms were up against the sides of the tractor. So when the hawk landed they ran behind the buckets, thinking they were in a safe spot when actually they were in the most dangerous place, right up against the wire. After that I made sure all "furniture" in the tractor was in the middle, not near the sides. I'm so sorry for your losses, of COURSE it was your favorite ones that got taken, that's Murphy's Law of Chicken Depredation. Thanks for sharing, you may have saved the lives of many other chicks due to your post.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I am going to get some welded wire tomorrow to go around the sides at the bottom of the tractor. I got a fake owl tonight, it has motion sensors on it too, and when something is within 6 feet, it turns it head towards it, and hoots! Hopefully it'll do the job without terrifying my chickens TOO much!
