We've kept birds and critters of some sort thru three decades now. Parrots indoors, cats and turtles outdoors as well as Ring-Neck doves and now chickens. One threat to the outdoor pets is hawks, and we have lots of them here amidst California farmlands. There's Coopers hawks (the irony of their name - Coop-ers - having just downed on me!), Red-tailed and various smaller birds of prey that I've never accurately identified.
There's also coyotes, bobcats (believe it or not!) and packs of dogs roaming about. OH! And feral cats - I found one sleeping of a big feast in the dove cage one day! A couple of weeks ago, I was roused from my sleep with the rabble of barking, whining dogs in our back yard. It took a bit for my senses to clear to where I realized the dogs were hassling 3-month old residents of our chicken tractor.Pulling shoes and shorts on, I made my way to the back door - picking up my trusty BB gun as I went. I'd seen a pack of setter-sized dogs around here before, and the trails of dog tracks on the back lot tell of their being here at night. As it turned out, I never even saw the dogs that night. I was snarling explitives as emerged into the yard so I'm sure they scooted when they sensed me coming. Of course, the fact that the moon was dark didn't help either. The birds were understandably nervous, but none of them were hurt. I've yet to have coyotes try for any of our birds, but I'm sure if they felt they could score a meal......
Hawks..... Prior to us keeping any caged animals outdoors, I'd seen hawks take down songbirds from time to time. Hey, hawks have a place in this world. In '95 I started keeping Ring-Necked doves outside. It's a tale in itself, how that got started, but I soon found myself building bigger accommodations for them and things progressed from there. Having kept some of these birds for 17 years now, I refer to them as "winged rabbits" because of their breeding habits. Eventually, I built a "dove tractor/flight" of fair dimensions and we enjoy their calming cooing to this day.
After having kept these birds for a few years, I was confounded when I found stripped cadavers of these creatures when I'd go to feed them. There would be one or more dove bodies, stripped of head, wings & feet - with NO evidence of anything having gotten INTO their flight. This kept happening on an infrequent basis for quite some time before I finally got to witness an attack.
To my amazement, it was hawks that were doi
There's also coyotes, bobcats (believe it or not!) and packs of dogs roaming about. OH! And feral cats - I found one sleeping of a big feast in the dove cage one day! A couple of weeks ago, I was roused from my sleep with the rabble of barking, whining dogs in our back yard. It took a bit for my senses to clear to where I realized the dogs were hassling 3-month old residents of our chicken tractor.Pulling shoes and shorts on, I made my way to the back door - picking up my trusty BB gun as I went. I'd seen a pack of setter-sized dogs around here before, and the trails of dog tracks on the back lot tell of their being here at night. As it turned out, I never even saw the dogs that night. I was snarling explitives as emerged into the yard so I'm sure they scooted when they sensed me coming. Of course, the fact that the moon was dark didn't help either. The birds were understandably nervous, but none of them were hurt. I've yet to have coyotes try for any of our birds, but I'm sure if they felt they could score a meal......
Hawks..... Prior to us keeping any caged animals outdoors, I'd seen hawks take down songbirds from time to time. Hey, hawks have a place in this world. In '95 I started keeping Ring-Necked doves outside. It's a tale in itself, how that got started, but I soon found myself building bigger accommodations for them and things progressed from there. Having kept some of these birds for 17 years now, I refer to them as "winged rabbits" because of their breeding habits. Eventually, I built a "dove tractor/flight" of fair dimensions and we enjoy their calming cooing to this day.
After having kept these birds for a few years, I was confounded when I found stripped cadavers of these creatures when I'd go to feed them. There would be one or more dove bodies, stripped of head, wings & feet - with NO evidence of anything having gotten INTO their flight. This kept happening on an infrequent basis for quite some time before I finally got to witness an attack.
To my amazement, it was hawks that were doi
