Hawk attack and roosters

[Wyatt0224]

A hawk attacked and killed one of my hens this morning in their run. My RIR rooster was walking around the run with five other hens as the hawk was eating my poor hen. My BA rooster was in the coop with my Silkie hens, seeming as if he was protecting them. What am I to make of my RIR rooster walking around the run with the hawk down there? To me it doesn't seem as if he did his job. Any help or opinions would be extremely helpful.

 

[ChickenGuppy]

    Unfortunately in a topless run, a chicken can be trapped against the fence by a hawk.  I've also been told of hawks sitting on the fence or an overhead tree and just dropping down.
      I've heard my roosters sounding the warning scream and staying in the open drawing attention to themselves while the hens scrambled to safety. 
      There are many good chicken guarding breeds but my favorite by far is the English Shepherd because they are such versatile farm dogs.  We just lost our almost 16 year old  last fall and my fingers really want to make that call to line up another...........On his watch no poultry was ever lost.

If you want to private message me I can send you my contact information and show you pictures of my dogs and help you learn which breed would be perfect for your family.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Well now those who do not believe in superstitions take note of this one.... I got on here the other day and gave advice about hawks saying I had not lost one in a couple of years.... Friday evening, I go out after work and see a female coopers hawk flying up from the ground near my shop. I know what that means. And there is a beautiful hen. Dead. Not eaten at all. The bird was just dead. It's neck was slightly torn up... otherwise no visible damage. It had bled out. The rest of the chickens were in a panic. I got them in.

I moved the carcass to a better spot for an ambush. l set up about 150 feet away under my back porch and waited. I have learned this much, they will come back. And I knew the killer was very hungry. It is a hungry hawk that kills a chicken and I knew from the carcass that this bird had not had a chance to feed. Sure enough, after about an hour and a half I saw it come up from low down, into a tree overlooking the scene. I waited. It was very cautious. It went behind the shop, out of sight. I waited. I thought maybe it had left because a squirrel was eating the chicken feed near the body. Finally just as it was getting dark, it appeared on the fence. Down onto the ground... it moved very low to the ground. Like a vampire. I waited til it was right up to the carcass and tucking in....

Later I was watching the attack on my surveillance cameras. The picture was not very good because of the distance but I could see enough to learn that the hawk behaved very differently than I thought it would.

It seemed like it swooped through the yard three or four times, driving the chickens back and forth. I saw it's shadow once flying left to right...The chickens had plenty of opportunity to escape, but, being chickens, they are not that smart. The chickens were in a panic but they kept running across the open areas in response to the hawk swooping. Finally the hawk got the victim cornered against the building. It was on the roof, looking down at the hen. The poor hen was isolated. The roosters were with larger groups of hens on the other side of the yard, The hawk then flew down off the roof and up again three or four times until it battened on to the hen. The hawk was actually smaller than the hen. Alot of flapping by the hawk and the hen.... But it killed the hen within 5 minutes once it was fastened on. You could see it flapping, then finally it was still. Then I saw myself coming out the back door like a doofus, frightening off the killer.

after I saw this bird in operation on the video, I realized it really knew what it was doing. and would have been back. It made me think about the cover I provide for my chickens. Obviously the birds had a couple of minutes to have gotten away, but they just kept going back and forth between the shrubs and the building. I really don't know how to defend against something like that.
*Edited by staff*

 

[TwoCrows]

Well what do you do to keep hawks at bay? Non lethal means have not worked for me.

I have huge issues with predators from the ground and the skies. And I have found over the years that shooting anything only opens the door for another to move in. Predators are endless and just like the pecking order of your chicken flock, there is ALWAYS one waiting to take the place of the one you shot. So shooting isn't going to fix anything. Same with relocation of predators. Again.... there will always be another lurking to take over your territory especially if dinner is being served up daily via free ranging birds.

When you free range, you have to be willing to lose a few to predators. Simple as that. There are natural predators to your area and they are designed for survival. They don't kill for sport but rather for survival.They are doing what they were created to do. So if you let your birds roam without supervision, they are going to be open to disappearing.

I have HUGE problems over here living in the wilderness. We have it ALL out here. If I stood by with my rifle and shot every predator from the sky or ground that came lurking, I would spend every day for the rest of my life killing them all. A never ending stream of them.

So I have no other choice but to come up with ways of protecting them instead of removing the predators. If you live in areas with hawks abound, you need to add LOTS of hidy places for your birds to dive for cover or hide. Lots of trees. bushes and such add wonderful cover. If you don't have natural hidy places you can make lean to's, dog houses, small teepee type areas, use your imagination to create places of protection. Benches, brush piles, just about anything for places to dive for cover.

Some people use good guard dogs or Llama's. Wonderful creatures to prevent aerial and ground attacks. Electric fences do wonders for ground assaults. If you live in a territory with crows or ravens, feed these birds!!! My Ravens run off EVERY hawk that comes into this territory and do not allow them to soar, sit or get anywhere near my property. Corvid's HATE hawks.

I only let my birds outside when I am outside and watching or close by. I have never had any attacks while I am milling around the yard, not to say a focused hawk won't attack while you are standing there, but less likely. And when I can't watch them, I have built my birds a very large run to spend their time in. They are not cramped in and have huge spaces to spend their day if they can't go outside. I put in toys, levels, mirrors, hanging veggies, flakes of hay, anything to keep them entertained while they are stuck inside.

So get creative. Killing hawks and other predators is not a solution here. If the hawk in your territory was the only one in your county, it might make sense to kill it (if it were legal to do so). But there are hundreds if not thousands not too far from you. On top of this, it is illegal in every state in the US to kill hawks. They are a protected species and under penalty of law, you are not allowed to kill them. Your flock will fair much better if you come up with ways of protecting them from the hawks, not removing the hawks.

 

[centrarchid]

Age of rooster? Species of hawk?

 

[Wyatt0224]

Rooster is 10 months old. I looked on Maryland DNR and looked through species of different Hawks that live in Maryland. Looking at the pictures I'm pretty sure it was a Coopers Hawk.

 

[centrarchid]

At 10 months of age, he may not have turned the corner as being fully adult. If a Cooper's Hawk, then even my game hens repel those so it is not a size issue. My roosters only fight to protect hens that are part of their harem and in their territory. Harem mentality probably not setup yet as mine have not done it yet but will be doing so soon as day length increases.


One of these days I am going to have to start selling my Missouri Dominiques roosters as anti-hawk birds as they are like games in that regard.

 

[Wyatt0224]

Those are some precious roosters then. I don't know what he was thinking or any of the five hens were thinking as well since they were walking around while the hawk was eating.

 

[bobbi-j]

At 10 months, he's still immature. Where else could they have gone? Can they get out of the run to escape? Maybe they felt more threatened in the coop. Not all roosters will fight off a predator (and yours is still a cockerel - an adolescent at this stage). Some will lead the way, running in the opposite direction. Some will distract the predator, giving the hens a chance to escape, some will fight to the death.

 

[Wyatt0224]

I understand that every rooster is different. Some of my hens went up the coop along with my other rooster so they know that their safe spot. What really has me concerned is why he let other hens be in the run. But maybe they were waiting for the gate to open so they could run out in the yard and escape. It's still really concerning that he acted that way though. I at least would've thought he would've taken them up to the coop for safety like my silkies and BA roo did.