Guineas and hawks

[Sydney65]

I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t give pumpkins to our poultry. I actually give the guineas almost no produce, as I didn’t want to teach them to raid our gardens. The guineas will steal blueberries off the bushes, but eat almost no other of our fruits and veggies. Lest you think they are deprived, we planted a small field of winter wheat and turnips that they love, plus plenty of clover (see pic). They are enthusiastic grazers.

As for the chickens, I keep thinking of our nearby pumpkin farm that I took our kids to years ago. I told the farm owner that I wanted to buy her pumpkins to make a pie, and she stated that they use so many pesticides on their ornamental pumpkins that she wasn’t comfortable selling it to me to eat. That mirrored my own experience trying to grow pumpkins, because we can make them look great for awhile, but squash pests always show up eventually and give them a disease that rapidly kills the vines. Pumpkins are slow growing, so it would take a lot of pesticide (or row covers, I want to try that!) to keep it going long enough to get big pumpkins in our area. Anyway, while we give lots of leftover produce to our chickens, I don’t give them pumpkins due to presumed heavy pesticide use of the typical pumpkins left over from Halloween.

I can see that being an issue in large production. Pumpkin growing for us has always been a curiosity. We don't can or eat them, but kids are always fascinated by a pumpkin patch. We don't use pesticides in the garden; the only thing the pumpkin patch got was whatever came out of the coop every day plus whatever they left behind while lounging under the canopy of leaves.
(the 2 reg size pumpkins were store bought)

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I can see that being an issue in large production. Pumpkin growing for us has always been a curiosity. We don't can or eat them, but kids are always fascinated by a pumpkin patch. We don't use pesticides in the garden; the only thing the pumpkin patch got was whatever came out of the coop every day plus whatever they left behind while lounging under the canopy of leaves.
View attachment 2885333 (the 2 reg size pumpkins were store bought)View attachment 2885349

Wow! I’m envious of everyone else’s pumpkin growing abilities!

 

[Sydney65]

Wow! I’m envious of everyone else’s pumpkin growing abilities!

We've had pumpkin patches since our kids were little. Some years were better than others, but the giants we have this yr. we fully accredit the guineas with. Last night's temps surely killed the vine, but there were still 2 growing in the "pumpkin tree " (aka that apple tree I mentioned elsewhere). Yes, really. The vines grew in the tree so there were pumpkins hanging from it. Lol

 

[R2elk]

We've had pumpkin patches since our kids were little. Some years were better than others, but the giants we have this yr. we fully accredit the guineas with. Last night's temps surely killed the vine, but there were still 2 growing in the "pumpkin tree " (aka that apple tree I mentioned elsewhere). Yes, really. The vines grew in the tree so there were pumpkins hanging from it. Lol

Mine grew down over my retaining wall into the turkey/chicken run. They were eating the pumpkins before they were ripe.

 

[Sydney65]

Mine grew down over my retaining wall into the turkey/chicken run. They were eating the pumpkins before they were ripe.

I kept expecting them to try that, and they liked laying near them, but it never happened.

 

[Sydney65]

Wow! I’m envious of everyone else’s pumpkin growing abilities!

Reading day - mb one of these will help as deterrents -
Provide hawk-raid shelters for chickens to duck into. A hideout can be simple, such as a cave made of straw bales. Natural cover like bushes and trees is potential shelter, too.
Scare tactics work best when you combine several methods and mix them up every once in a while. You have to keep bird predators on their toes, or they’ll become bored and ignore your efforts. Select from this bag of tricks:
Put up a scarecrow. A scarecrow is most effective if it appears to move. Change the scarecrow’s position every few days and use your creativity to make it move in the breeze, perhaps with pinwheels or flags.
Hang shiny things from strings. Items, such as aluminum pie pans or discarded compact discs that move and flash in a breeze, work well.
Place a cheap mirror, facing upward, in the bottom of an empty hanging plant basket. Hang several of these baskets around the pen or coop. A mirror flashes in the sunlight and makes birds of prey suspect danger.
Add a flood light or strobe light. A motion-activated light scares off owls.
Fight fire with fire. Encourage a kestrel, also known as a sparrow hawk, to move into your neighborhood by putting up kestrel nest boxes. The American kestrel is a small bird of prey found in most areas of North and South America that prefers to eat grasshoppers and rodents, not chickens. Kestrels aggressively defend their territory from larger hawks

 

[Sydney65]

I think Mud Pie was lost to a hawk, 2 months ago. That was my most recent loss. I guess it still feels quite recent to me… Yes, I suspect the same hawk is still around, though due to migrations, it could be a different hawk. I’m not doing a lot to prevent more. I stand outside with the guineas when I hear them making red alert noises, like their “machine gun“ call. Goons are still on alert, but not like they were after Muddy’s loss and Kingpins attack!

Babies - yes! They are still here. I’ll take some pics at the end of this week - 8!weeks! It’s getting colder and colder, but they seem to be surviving the cold so far.

Was watching a vet show this a.m., and they said they were treating a goshawk. But the bird in question had partial webbing (not full) between toes,which made me curious. Still have not found such a thing, but figured it might be good to compile what I did find to identify some of our birds' nemesis'. (Mb Oz has webbed hawks?)
Is it a hawk or a Falcon?
Hawks have sleek,pointed heads,smooth beaks which curve slightly, brown cheeks,stocky, medium-sized bodies,long tails & broad wings w/fingers-like tapering on the ends.The mature hawk has brown stripes on its belly with a white band at the base. They kill w/their talons.
Falcons are smaller & slender, short rounded heads w/ white cheeks and angular beaks w/a bend or notch used for neck breaking. They have tapered wings w/pointed tips.Mature Falcon have striped bellies all the way down, but the juvenile will always have the white cheeks.

Which kind of Hawk?
There are 16 species of hawk in the US. I'm just hitting on the more common ones, as some avoid civilization or have limited range in US.

Red-tailed Hawk​

Since the red tailed hawk can be difference colors, it's identifying attribute is the red tail. It's usually seen more in the winter but can be found pretty much anywhere in North America but breed in Canada summers. They don't hang out at bird feeders but will go for your poultry. They are said to mate for life & reuse nests every year when possible.
I don't tend to get close enough to see tail color, but if we hear this,

That's a red-tailed hawk. (Numi & the pup are NOT impressed)
Length: 18-26 inches / 45-65 cm
Weight: 1.5-3.5 lbs. / 700-1600 gm
Wingspan: 43-55 inches/ 110-140 cm
Scientific Name: Buteo jamaicensis

Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper's Hawk?
Smallest hawk in US, fast moving,upper chest has orange bars that fades downward, wings & back are blue-gray. Their wings are short and rounded, tail long. An ambush predator, they are often found near bird feeders. They are often confused w/the Cooper' s hawk, though 6" shorter & 1/2 the weight.

Coop has a cap and flaps wings slowly
Sharpie has a cape and flaps quickly.
The link I share at bottom has their sound imbedded sharpie is high pitched kikikikik,cooper is cakcakcak. I bet when you hear you'll recognize both.

Northern Goshawk
A Cooper's hawk is often mistook for a goshawk. They're similar, & goshawks don't like being around us. But goshawks have dark heads and red eyes, bluish white to gray barred under-bellies and blue-gray to brown upper bodies. They are larger and fiercer than the above birds & will attack.

Red-shouldered Hawk​

Barred red chest, white underwings,banded tail, red shoulders visible when perched. Mainly in North-South Central, Mid-South Atlantic regions. The hunting style makes them unique as they drop from directly above.

(now all 3 dogs on alert)

More imbedded sounds and photos, as well as more species that have limited range in the states, can be seen at this great site: https://birdwatchinghq.com/hawks-in-the-united-states/

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Was watching a vet show this a.m., and they said they were treating a goshawk. But the bird in question had partial webbing (not full) between toes,which made me curious. Still have not found such a thing, but figured it might be good to compile what I did find to identify some of our birds' nemesis'. (Mb Oz has webbed hawks?)
Is it a hawk or a Falcon?
Hawks have sleek,pointed heads,smooth beaks which curve slightly, brown cheeks,stocky, medium-sized bodies,long tails & broad wings w/fingers-like tapering on the ends.The mature hawk has brown stripes on its belly with a white band at the base. They kill w/their talons.
Falcons are smaller & slender, short rounded heads w/ white cheeks and angular beaks w/a bend or notch used for neck breaking. They have tapered wings w/pointed tips.Mature Falcon have striped bellies all the way down, but the juvenile will always have the white cheeks.

Which kind of Hawk?
There are 16 species of hawk in the US. I'm just hitting on the more common ones, as some avoid civilization or have limited range in US.

Red-tailed Hawk​

Since the red tailed hawk can be difference colors, it's identifying attribute is the red tail. It's usually seen more in the winter but can be found pretty much anywhere in North America but breed in Canada summers. They don't hang out at bird feeders but will go for your poultry. They are said to mate for life & reuse nests every year when possible.
I don't tend to get close enough to see tail color, but if we hear this,

That's a red-tailed hawk. (Numi & the pup are NOT impressed)
Length: 18-26 inches / 45-65 cm
Weight: 1.5-3.5 lbs. / 700-1600 gm
Wingspan: 43-55 inches/ 110-140 cm
Scientific Name: Buteo jamaicensis

Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper's Hawk?
Smallest hawk in US, fast moving,upper chest has orange bars that fades downward, wings & back are blue-gray. Their wings are short and rounded, tail long. An ambush predator, they are often found near bird feeders. They are often confused w/the Cooper' s hawk, though 6" shorter & 1/2 the weight.

Coop has a cap and flaps wings slowly
Sharpie has a cape and flaps quickly.
The link I share at bottom has their sound imbedded sharpie is high pitched kikikikik,cooper is cakcakcak. I bet when you hear you'll recognize both.

Northern Goshawk
A Cooper's hawk is often mistook for a goshawk. They're similar, & goshawks don't like being around us. But goshawks have dark heads and red eyes, bluish white to gray barred under-bellies and blue-gray to brown upper bodies. They are larger and fiercer than the above birds & will attack.

Red-shouldered Hawk​

Barred red chest, white underwings,banded tail, red shoulders visible when perched. Mainly in North-South Central, Mid-South Atlantic regions. The hunting style makes them unique as they drop from directly above.

(now all 3 dogs on alert)

More imbedded sounds and photos, as well as more species that have limited range in the states, can be seen at this great site: https://birdwatchinghq.com/hawks-in-the-united-states/

Nice list! It’s great to get to know the birds in your area - which species predominate in your area of Indiana? In N Central Oklahoma where we live, the most common raptors are turkey vultures, red tailed hawks, red shouldered hawks, Mississippi kites, Cooper’s hawks, sharp shinned hawks, and black vultures. On our property, we have resident turkey vultures and red shouldered hawks. As far as I can tell, our resident raptors are not concerned with our poultry. I think our losses have been to red tailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks. Look at pictures of juveniles for your common hawk species too, as they are the ones without the experience yet to reliably acquire more natural prey. We don’t see many falcons so I don’t worry know much about them!

 

[Sydney65]

Nice list! It’s great to get to know the birds in your area - which species predominate in your area of Indiana? In N Central Oklahoma where we live, the most common raptors are turkey vultures, red tailed hawks, red shouldered hawks, Mississippi kites, Cooper’s hawks, sharp shinned hawks, and black vultures. On our property, we have resident turkey vultures and red shouldered hawks. As far as I can tell, our resident raptors are not concerned with our poultry. I think our losses have been to red tailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks. Look at pictures of juveniles for your common hawk species too, as they are the ones without the experience yet to reliably acquire more natural prey. We don’t see many falcons so I don’t worry know much about them!

The ones I listed . And the osprey, which 99% meal is fish, so not a big threat, & owls, which I've seen only once in the wild up close.
Turkey vultures we have but there's enough carrion that they don't bother. We do have falcons, and random eagles now. Now I have to reassess and look for wing fingers, bc I don't recall noticing before. There's one falcon always sitting at the same spot down the road.
I used to drive hubby crazy bc there's a dam we'd go to. The hand rails would be lined w/turkey vultures. They weren't intimidated by me nor me of them, so I'd walk right up to them, & they didn't flinch, let alone fly away. Meanwhile he'd be pulling the kids to him, hissing at me frantically to get back. I'm still here, so
I thought the compilation would help this year when we start seeing who's hanging around or having attacks. Hawk, talons, falcon, broken neck. Not that we'll have remains very often to judge. But maybe between now and then we'll come up with deterrents.

 

[R2elk]

Sunday morning I had a fly by from a Red-tailed hawk and a Bald Eagle. They did not bother anything.