Hawk attack!!!

[speckledhen]

Brutus deserves some extra goodies. He was so full of adrenaline he just kept on fighting and it's too bad you got hurt-hope that heals up okay!
I'm so worried since my Hawkeye died that my girls aren't protected. Zane is only 20 weeks old and just doesn't have the experience his father did yet. Not sure what he'd do if he was in a position where he was supposed to defend anyone. I love my roosters. Dont ever want to be without one again.

 

[whatnow?]

That really is an amazing story. I have to confess that now that my neighbors know about the hens, I was secretly wishing that one would be a roo. This story just makes me want a rooster even more.

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

You are sooo lucky to have such a great roo!!

 

[ChickNLittle]

Well I think Mr. Roo deserves a special treat. Better keep him around. My biggest problem is the raccoons. I had mine free rangeing, but not anymore. Now they have a coop and a covered yard, and are closed in at night.

 

[Johnnyboy922]

when i started off with my 5 chicks it was a summer day when it was warm enough for them to go outside. they were like 2 weeks old or something. they were just chilling in the grass and i was on my rope swing under a tree. i saw a hawk dive so i jumped off the swing sprinted over the the chicks and took a swing at the hawk while it was still 3 or 4 feet off of the ground. i made contact with part of it and all the chicks scattered. i couldnt find one for about 15 seconds and i was freaking out. but i found it under some tulip plants.

i saw the hawk sitting on my moveable coops roof about a month later every morning befor i went to caddy.

hypothetically if one was to shoot it with a bb gun everytime one saw it in order to startle the hawk then hypothetically it would stop coming around in a hypothetical few days.............

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Go Brutus

Go Brutus

Go Brutus

Go Brutus

 

[Flycropper]

I need a Brutus!

I got hit today by a hawk! I let my 8 week old pullets out in the run early this morning. I called home to remind my wife to check on the chicks (7 weeks old) and lock them in the coop. Within minutes she called me back to say there was a pile of feathers in the run and blood every where. The other 11 chicks were huddled in a corner inside the coop. One of my bigger RIR hens (Julianne) was gone!

I had a wire and nylon grid over the run but the hawk must have fought through it.

This newbie has learned his lesson!!!

Tommorow I am going to do what I should have done in the beginning...enclose the whole run overhead with wire mesh/fence.

Here is Jullianne with my son who was given this chick by friends in early March.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I place shiny things over & around my runs. Children's foil pinwheels up on top of the fence posts, sun catchers and old CDs & DVDs hung on strings over it. I drill a hole a little off-center on the media so the discs hang somewhat horizontally & reflect the light back up into the sky.

I've mostly had red-shouldered hawks here, and they seem mostly attracted to chicks and lame adults. They've come to the ground & pecked at chicks through the wire of their cage. There was one that killed a small mama hen who must have been defending her chicks, I found the hawk on the ground eating the head off the hen. Poor Quiche! And once a small kestrel killed a chick, I found it eating the chick still on the ground.

Other than that, when the flock is free-ranging in or out of their runs, I haven't had any hawks swooping in. They're often hovering over, and the roos give their growl-word for "hawk!" and everyone freezes & heads for cover. The roos have me trained too, because as soon as I hear that word I too stop in my tracks and scan the sky.

Sometimes the hawks do perch on a nearby tree and survey the chickens, then they really start to squawk! We all run out from the house and clap & shout to scare off the hawk.

There are lots of ospreys around here, has anyone ever lost a chicken to an osprey? I know they catch live fish, will they eat a chicken?

Yesterday I saw a bald eagle flying across the sky over our house, close enough to positively ID him. It was my first sight of one in the wild, it was impressive. I was in the car on my way home, so I didn't hear what the roos & the other chickens had to say about that eagle. Will they swoop in & catch a chicken?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Brutus gets extra treats!

I've always told myself if I got a bad hawk problem, I would go get me a better roo. I was thinking maybe a large game roo and let his spurs growout some. The only problem would be, I would need to protect myself from him too, as well as anyone else coming into the yard

.

I have a good roo now, he calls the alarms, but he's also the first one to shelter. haha.

Glad it had a happy ending. Good boy, Brutus.

-Kim

 

[CathyB]

Quote:
I have had the chance to see one in the wild as well. One of the most beautiful things I have ever saw!

Oh, and yeah for Brutus!!!