Hawk attack

[Susan12]

We thought we were dealing with a racoon.after two days my son saw the hawk in the pen.we lost nine chickens.i was surprised a hawk would kill and leave 7 dead chickens.the pen is now covered in netting.i hope he goes away my chickens are used too roaming free.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Sorry for your loss but hawks (and owls too) are not some kind of newage wonder bird but a bloodthirsty killer.

 

[Lady J]

Yikes! I thought a hawk would only take what it would eat.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Yikes! I thought a hawk would only take what it would eat.

Hawks (and all other predators as well) kill to eat and eat to kill.

Only humans have laws, rules, regulations, and customs regarding what, how much or many, which sex, or how large an animal or fish must be before it Is reduced to POSSESSION or killed.

 

[centrarchid]

Sometimes a predator has a hard time shutting off the kill part of predation when large number of additional potential prey items are in close proximity and easy to get. Some predators like mink and Red Fox can cache such bounties, but hawks not so much. I do not think it is a fun thing for most predators, rather it is closer to confusion for some.

 

[HappyDancin']

Yikes! That is terrible! I'm sorry for your losses...

And you've struck new fear in me now. I agree, I did not know that a hawk would wipe out a flock, rather, I thought they would snatch them off one at a time (I've had that happen...where every few days I have one less bird ).

To give myself pace of mind, and increase flock safety ... I have my chickens in with my goats now - and the goats definitely "protect" the chickens. I also purchased my first rooster (I've read stories on here about a roo sacrificing himself to a predator for the whole flock - not that I was him to die either, of course!), and I also have lots of hiding places for my birds in their run.

I'm terrified of airborne predation because my run is too big to net!

Again, so sorry the hawk took out so many. I'm glad you caught him red-handed though...knowledge is power!

 

[Lady J]

My outside chicken yard is too big to net too. The chickies can run inside. I don't know if they have presence of mind to do that.

This thread made me dream last night that I witnessed a hawk swooping down and grabbing a chicken (not one of mine). It took off with the chicken and was flying overhead, but it flew back down to the ground. I woke up just as I grabbed the hawk and started trying to wrestle the chicken out of its talons. Hahaha. Dreams.

 

[happyfrenchman]

That is terrible. Hawks are vermin to me. What kind of hawk was it?

In my experience Hawks are almost "reflexive" killers.... they see something moving, they reflexively grab at it and kill it. Not an issue in the wild as the survivors of an attack don't stick around, but in the pen it was a tragedy. I suppose they are smart in some ways, but I have found them to be almost stupider than some chickens in some instances.... very focused at the expense of any peripheral dangers that might be present. (such as myself). It comes in handy sometimes.

 

[Lady J]

I love birds of prey as long as they aren't preying on my chickies or other wild birds in my yard.

 

[orrpeople]

My outside chicken yard is too big to net too. The chickies can run inside. I don't know if they have presence of mind to do that.

This thread made me dream last night that I witnessed a hawk swooping down and grabbing a chicken (not one of mine). It took off with the chicken and was flying overhead, but it flew back down to the ground. I woke up just as I grabbed the hawk and started trying to wrestle the chicken out of its talons. Hahaha. Dreams.

Something to consider (and never the perfect answer, by far) is to make sure that you have lots of hiding places in the run itself - bushy shrubs are ideal, but built structures work too. Also, do you (or can you) have a rooster? They're amazing at getting their girls to safety, and their eyesight is so much more keen than ours when it comes to spotting predatory possibilities from the air.