HAWK Attack! I'm SOOO distraught. *UPDATE #2 re: Survivor* see post#1

[chicchick]

Just want to chime in - so sorry for your loss!

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
Thanks so much.

 

[PepsNick]

Woah- that's terrible! So sorry and feel better.

 

[galanie]

So sorry for your loss but so happy some of your girls are back that you feared were gone forever! Hawks have been bad here in Texas too. One tried to get mine that were inside the coop the other day. Happily the weather was warm enough that I had the back door open and could hear them shriek in time to go peeling out there. I never let them free range unless I'm there. This time, the hawk found a way in that I'd swear no hawk would ever find. But one did. And now, that's fixed.

A lot of us would happily kill any animal threatening our flocks but I understand those that will not do so and respect it. Easiest though is a chicken wire top on a run. After all, you kill one predator, who's to say another won't show up some time?

 

[dkosh]

I'm sorry for your loss. I have also been witness to a red tailed hawk taking one of my ladies. I came up with running fishing line zig zag across the farm pen area. From the roof line to really high poles. The hawks don't like the wire because they can't see it so they can't navigate through the lines. The still sit and watch but they haven't landed in the pen area since. Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[gsim]

Quote:
I have no sympathy for the hawks . I understand that they are only doing what comes natural, but they are going after an easy meal because chickens are far easier to catch and kill than wild game is. But you should know that it is a federal offense to kill any bird of prey. No, they are not endangered whatsoever, and are in fact as common as flies at a picnic. But thanks to the feds, (perhaps EPA?) they are declared to be endangered and thus protected. No, congress never voted on it, but the fed agency that is in charge of it declared it to be a law, and now it is just the same as a real law. Bottom line is that you can be prosecuted in court and fined a hefty fine if convicted. (Similar to nazi Germany in the 1930's where people were imprisoned for shooting wolves that were killing their livestock.)

A co-worker once heard a disturbance from his hen house and went with his wife and shotgun to discover a gaping hole in his run/fencing. Just when he entered the hole a black bear came charging out. The man literally fired in self-cdfense and killed the bear. Then he made his first mistake.....he called Tenn Dept of Fish & Game. The game warden came out and appeared to be sympathetic and prevailed upon my co-worker to help him carry the carcass down to his truck. He helped the man, and then the warden wrote him a citation to court. He appeared in court and was let off with a warning of never shooting a bear again" no matter the circumstance". The judge said "now I expect that you know what to do in the future." The judge said "I do not want to see you in here again for shooting a bear. My co-worker said "Yes your honor, I will hold the light and let my wife shoot it." The judge said "Get out of my courtroom".

So.......beware of what you do and what you say, especially on a public forum like this. It is the same situation out west with the re-introduction of wolves to cattle country. Environmentalists with deep pockets have bought power in DC and have prevailed in ramming things like this down the throats of the American people. It is just a fact of life in America today, just like traffic cameras. Really it is just a natural outgrowth of national socialism.

Gerry

 

[Lofty Dreams]

I lost one of my birds to those

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Update on Ameraucana survivor: she laid her first egg today. I'm sad that her sister was days away from laying her first egg too.

Now that I'm a full-fledged egg-blowing, ornament-making addict, I'm happy to be able to preserve her first egg for posterity.

This was Clarice as a baby chick:

This was Bessie (bless her little feathered soul):

Sisters (in September 2010)

 

[eggboy]

Cute chicks! Too bad about the one.....

 

[chkn]

I love those blue aracaunas. I don't know how many times I've lost one that just started laying or was about to start laying. It seems to be the murphy's law of chicken raising.

I always try not to pick favorites either because it seems those ones are doomed!!! Anyway, sorry for your disaster there. I can't believe so many hawks would gather up to cause so much trouble.