Grabbed by hawks under our own eyes, we grabbed them back!!!

[Spanishchick]

A nice story.......kind of nice.
2 of our chickens were grabbed, 1 my dh grabbed the chicken out of it's claws.......he was sitting right there, the second he followed the hawk until it landed (not far he must be weak from hunger or the chicken is heavy or both) and when he put it down he grabbed that one too!!!

That was supervised free ranging!!!

 

[Coop Deville]

Wow!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

After decades of total protection it seems that hawks have lost all respect and fear of human beings.

 

[Spanishchick]

And dog! My dog was chewing on a bone right next to the first chicken because they're buddies!
After a hundred years of locking up dogs in houses my dog is learning to be like his ancestors and stop chasing chickens for the hell of it!

I don't think we're quit there yet but working on it.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Wow that's crazy. Did the dog do anything while this was going on?

 

[Spanishchick]

No! I was thinking that today. He almost toyed our rooster to death not long ago. The rooster and 2 chickens jumped the fence.I never let them range with him around alone. Having said that, he lives with this one almost all the time. But Squat doesn't run which is probably why she's pecked..she's a very calm chicken. She was one of the ones grabbed and my dog did nothing!
Mind you the two hawks did swoop down from the sky.
A normal reaction would have been for him to jump and snatch the chicken. Probably not a good solution for the chicken.
The hawks did this right next to my husband and the dog!

 

[Mahlzeit]

That's wild! Any idea what kind of hawk?

 

[Spanishchick]

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/wildlife/coopershawkphotos.htm
Had to be a coopers hawk.
They are everywhere here. Also he couldn't carry a 4 lb chicken too far.

 

[Spanishchick]

Actually a pair of cooper hawks which means babies soon. I see nests in the trees, they are huge. I really don't think we are going to be able to supervise range without a cover on these chicken unless we feel like loosing all of them, buying more to loose them again.
Any suggestions?

 

[Mahlzeit]

What I do is leave my chickens in a covered run during the day while we're gone at work and then when i come home in the later afternoon I let them out to free range. It seems at that time of the day the hawks are no longer flying around by us. However we have no visible nest nearby as you seem to so it might not work for you.