Hawk Being Attacked By Crows

[ChickenGirl555]

I was out free ranging my flock of 6 pullets, when I heard some crows making a weird noise. I looked around until I saw two crows chasing and attacking a hawk. My first instinct was to find all of my chickens, and put them in the run. Which I did. So now I’m wondering if the hawk knows where my chickens live. The hawk was so busy flying for its life that it didn’t pay any attention to me as I carried 3 chickens at a time in my hurry to get them to safety. Luckily all girls are safe, but now I’m worried. I hadn’t seen ANY hawks around me until now.

 

[Zinjifrah]

If crows were chasing the hawk, it was probably more interested in their nest than in your chickens. Crows are smart - and they will gang up on raptors to drive them away from a nest. I've seen a pack of crows, somewhere between ten and fifteen - it was impossible to count - literally knock a full grown Bald Eagle out of the air by diving on it and slamming into its back while it was flying. It flipped, landed on the ground on its back, scrambled up, and the last I saw of them the eagle was running along the ground into the woods unable to get back in the air because of the crows dive-bombing it.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Black Birds/crows chase mine away most of the time. I'm surrounded by forests. Forests loaded with birds nests. It's cool to watch. Because you can get into big time trouble messing with Federally protected birds of prey, but the black birds have a free pass.
I keep 10 bird feeders full at all times. It keeps the black birds close by. They will nest near a reliable food source.
BUY SOME BIRD FEEDERS!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chicken hawks like Coopers Hawks, Sharp Shinned or Blue Darter Hawks and to a lesser degree Red Tailed hawks dearly love to hang around bird feeders because these hawks view bird feeders like you and I view the drive through window at McDonald's.

Welcome to McDonald's, bird feeder, may I take your order?
Give me two robin burgers and a side order of baby crow.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Black Birds/crows chase mine away most of the time. I'm surrounded by forests. Forests loaded with birds nests. It's cool to watch. Because you can get into big time trouble messing with Federally protected birds of prey, but the black birds have a free pass.
I keep 10 bird feeders full at all times. It keeps the black birds close by. They will nest near a reliable food source.
BUY SOME BIRD FEEDERS!

I have one bird feeder and my neighbor has about seven. No wonder there’s so many crows around us! I used to hate them because of the risk of crows getting my chicks, but now I wish I had more than we already have—which is a lot. In every tree you see you’ll most likely see at least one crow.

 

[llombardo]

Crows by me always alert everyone to a hawk. Don't know why, but crows don't want them around(probably a food source thing) if I hear the crows, I can always find a hawk-guaranteed.

 

[Duckstail]

If crows were chasing the hawk, it was probably more interested in their nest than in your chickens. Crows are smart - and they will gang up on raptors to drive them away from a nest. I've seen a pack of crows, somewhere between ten and fifteen - it was impossible to count - literally knock a full grown Bald Eagle out of the air by diving on it and slamming into its back while it was flying. It flipped, landed on the ground on its back, scrambled up, and the last I saw of them the eagle was running along the ground into the woods unable to get back in the air because of the crows dive-bombing it.

Fun fact of the day, a flock of crows is called a murder. In upstate ny there are murders of crow 30,000 deep. I saw like 5-10,000 once it was beautiful!

U probably alright but now u know theres a hawk! U know what type? Redtailed?

 

[JDN]

Neat...
Did you know that crow hunters, to decoy crows, set out an owl decoy?

 

[sweetchicksatl]

A scary and very cool thing happened to me last night. 2 crows have been hanging around and I read on this site they could help deter hawks. So I’ve fed them scraps a couple of times. Last evening, as I was closing up egg boxes, a hawk came out of nowhere. It was 5 feet from a me, a basket of eggs, and 5 hens. Also from nowhere a crow swooped down and intercepted the hawk. It chased the hawk away while I put my hens back in their pen. It was the most incredible thing. My 2 crow friends have a plate next to a birdbath that will have their dinner scraps from now on. I’ve already lost 1 bird to a hawk and I don’t care to repeat this. I let my chickens free range with supervision in the evenings while enjoying a glass of wine...and a plate of goodies with a nice crow.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Crows and other members of the Jay family form a mutual defense association. When one crow gets into trouble with a hawk his fellow crows will rally to the defense.

In this example there are at least 25 crows who responded to the presence of a hawk but it didn't do much good.

This is a good example of eating crow but I don't think that the guest at this crow confab is amused.