Hawk attack while I'm standing right there!!!

[Sparkway]

Ok still can't believe what just happened!!
Background info. About a two months ago a hawk got my light brahma hen. I let them free range until then with never an issue. After the attack put netting up over run and nothing since then.
Today my contractor was here building me a 24' x 12 run for my remaining 6 hens. So I go to the shed to get something and my other light brahma followed me. I'm standing there opening the shed and wham!!!! A very large hawk slams into me and Ursala. I didn't even know what was happening it was so fast hard and silent. Just swooped right around shed. She must have seen it at the last second cause she made it into shed but lost a lot of feathers. I kicked at it since it was basically on my leg!! The worker was stunned too. I put all girls in the very small covered run and went in to change my underwear !! My contractor is going in for surgery and can't finish til March!! I put netting over the finished frame. I hope that will keep it out. It was a big f#^**in hawk.
I've read other post where hawks have been brazen just never thought would happen to me in NJ suburbs. That happens out in the country in other states etc ......yeah right !!!

 

[sourland]

I am from New Jersey too - I have had hawks attack pigeons that were feeding at my feet, crash into my aviaries after pigeons while I was standing there, Drive a pigeon into the cellar way while I was standing there with a broom. A lot of the hawks we are seeing this time of year are migratory and have no experience with humans. This plus they are hungry.

 

[cochinator]

I'm a falconer and it is your duty to protect not only your chickens but yourself from being attacked by hawks even if it means building a giant net over your entire farm and walking around with a golf umbrella even when it is sunny outside.

And I probably don't need to remind you that it is illegal to kill a hawk even if its talons are lodged into your carotid artery, for the life of a wild hawk is FAR more important than your own life of the life of one your stupid pets who lives in your yard.

Defense of your life or the life of your pets from a hawk is a federal crime and there are federal prosecutors everywhere chomping at the bit to drop all their R.I.C.O. and drug cases to make a name for themselves by prosecuting a hawk killer, so heed these warnings.

 

[GD91]

I'm a falconer and it is your duty to protect not only your chickens but yourself from being attacked by hawks even if it means building a giant net over your entire farm and walking around with a golf umbrella even when it is sunny outside.

And I probably don't need to remind you that it is illegal to kill a hawk even if its talons are lodged into your carotid artery, for the life of a wild hawk is FAR more important than your own life of the life of one your stupid pets who lives in your yard.

Defense of your life or the life of your pets from a hawk is a federal crime and there are federal prosecutors everywhere chomping at the bit to drop all their R.I.C.O. and drug cases to make a name for themselves by prosecuting a hawk killer, so heed these warnings.

Even yourself stated on another thread the law for hawks was a carryover from the early 1900's & irrelevant now in regards to conservation status.

I am fed up to the back teeth, every time some poor sod writes on this site that they have lost a pet to a hawk or any other raptor, all the falconers on this site seem to swoop in & start stating the law & making threats. If you think this helps the case of your birds of prey, it doesn't. All it does is give people even more initiative to shoot & trap & anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.

If your thinking "but the law..."
LAWS CAN ONLY BE UPHELD IF THE GOVERNMENT FIND OUT THEY HAVE BEEN BROKEN IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHICH I WILL UPDATE YOU WITH THE FACT THAT THEY USUALLY DON'T OR DON'T FIND THE CULPRIT! MOST PEOPLE ARE INTELLIGENT YOU KNOW, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO TELL OTHER PEOPLE IF THEY ARE TRAPPING OR SHOOTING RAPTORS!

As a zoologist who has worked with raptors I am going to point out, if all of the raptors disappeared from the earth tomorrow, do you think the earth will die or there will be any major effect?!! If all the humans disappear off the earth tomorrow, do you think the earth will die? Or any other species?
All it will do is open up areas for other species to thrive.

Telling someone who has just suffered the loss of a pet what you have stated above is extremely negative & unhelpful. If their chicken ate your stupid raptors, you wouldn't be so uncaring.

Quite frankly I'm all for conservation, but you have to put your foot down & either say enough is enough or in your case, if you've got nothing nice or helpful to say, don't say anything at all!

Raptors, may have once been endangered & were put under protection in the U.S, but by all the threads on this site about the issues with raptors its probably long overdue for a law change.... As happens over here in the UK. Here the raptors go in & out of the protected status... when they become a problem, the protected status gets removed & the birds are culled. Just like any other species. And they never go near people in the UK, if they did they would be culled. Any wild animal that does that & shows the behavior written on most of these hawk threads is a threat to people, children & pets, whether you are willing to accept that fact or not.
Those talons & that beak pack a lot of punch in any raptor. Its dangerous.

Even a bird that has had no contact with people before should still be wary & there certainly shouldn't be the amount of reports coming from the U.S of all places about raptors coming into such brazen contact with people.

A wild raptor is completely different from the birds you handle on a day to day basis.

To the OP, I'm sorry about the loss of your Brahma & I would suggest going to lengths to improve security against birds of prey & try some serious scare tactics to try & prevent the birds hanging around to close. Short of harassing the birds (however this is illegal in the U.S) I really don't know what to suggest when they are so used to humans.
If it was the UK, the bird would be reported and killed.

 

[cochinator]

Your sarcasm detector is broken. I was mocking the sanctimonious falconers who get on this site and preach their garbage as if anyone here wants to hear it.

 

[sourland]

Your sarcasm detector is broken. I was mocking the sanctimonious falconers who get on this site and preach their garbage as if anyone here wants to hear it.

I got it.

 

[Bumblefoot Bill]

x2..lighten up people

 

[bobbi-j]

Your sarcasm detector is broken. I was mocking the sanctimonious falconers who get on this site and preach their garbage as if anyone here wants to hear it.

I got it, too. Unfortunately, it's impossible to read tone of voice, so people take things in many different ways.

OP, it's not that uncommon. I've never had a hawk go after my chickens while I was standing there, but once when out pheasant hunting, a hawk swooped right over the head of someone in our hunting party and took a hen pheasant right in front of him.

We live out in the country and have many hawks, eagles and owls around. (not to mention ground predators). Honestly, I haven't ever had a problem with hawks, but I think it's for a few reasons. There is plenty of wildlife out here for them. We have a large slough near here and a lake and lots of wildlife areas so the hawks don't need to come near our building site for food. Our chickens also have plenty of hiding places out here. I also think that because we're always out and about (the coops are near DH's workshop and he's there every day) they don't feel comfortable coming in for chicken dinner. In my opinion, hawks are far more of a problem for chickens in towns and more populated areas because they don't have many other options.

 

[GD91]

Your sarcasm detector is broken. I was mocking the sanctimonious falconers who get on this site and preach their garbage as if anyone here wants to hear it.

#yep,I apologize if you were being sarcastic & I did misread the tone. Unfortunately a lot of people on here are not & I've read some awkward & really silly stuff on this site concerning falconers since I joined.
I'll make a mental note that you are not a nutjob.

Again, sorry for the misread, I thought you were being serious

it is quite a funny post when read from a sarcastic point of view.

Normally I keep a civil tongue online, just read too much stuff yesterday & was too tired to think or read straight. It was 6 AM here.....

Sometimes the falconers on here seem a lot like a cult

and I think its a bit horrible the way they talk down to people. To be honest birds of prey are lovely to watch, yes.... but not when they are getting in your face on your own property or elsewhere & they are not any more valuable than any other species.

We have never had any problems with birds of prey, never had a pet taken in my life by one (and I've owned a lot of pets) & never had to take precautions. Something is very wrong over there if the birds are doing that as such close range.

 

[Sparkway]

I got the sarcasm. I can't get this covered run done fast enough.

I understand the fact of losing chickens if I free range but I just didn't expect an attack at my side and hitting me in the process. I have 6 kids 4 under 7 that enjoy being around the chickens so its going to be hard monitoring this .