Hawk eating my chickens!

[mpjp5811]

We have lost a chicken a week so we started to lock them up whenever we weren't home. We did this for about two months thinking we could just wait him out. Well today we let them roam free (since the leaves are back out and most of our 8 acres are heavily wooded) and the hawk came back and killed a chicken. Everything I have read suggestes that Hawks typically don't kill chickens in heavily wooded areas, well today the hawk killed our chicken in a heavily wooded part. It's so frustrating, but at the same time I'm trying to tell my self this is just how it is! I just needed to vent! Thanks

 

[chickengeorgeto]

We have lost a chicken a week so we started to lock them up whenever we weren't home. We did this for about two months thinking we could just wait him out. Well today we let them roam free (since the leaves are back out and most of our 8 acres are heavily wooded) and the hawk came back and killed a chicken. Everything I have read suggestes that Hawks typically don't kill chickens in heavily wooded areas, well today the hawk killed our chicken in a heavily wooded part. It's so frustrating, but at the same time I'm trying to tell my self this is just how it is! I just needed to vent! Thanks

Old wives tails die hard, but not as hard as a chicken dies when it is butchered and dismembered alive by a hawk.

Hawks are designed by Mother Nature to hunt in wooded terrain.

 

[mpjp5811]

Yep. I guess when I put them out they are now on the food chain!

 

[centrarchid]

I am grumbling about this entire exchange.

 

[coolchik]

Maybe it's a Cooper's hawk..... They thrive in wooded areas. They have longer tails and a shorter wing span. I had one carry off my silkie and dropped her right at the woodline. She's the luckiest chicken I know.

 

[Julessrq]

I'm so sorry for your girl! I live in South Florida. I have an urban chicken tractor with a large extension. Even though they have room to play, they are so much happier to get out and really play! I bought a temporary fence/ nett to move around when I move their tractor. However.. In the past, before I bought the fence to let they play freely, a hawk tried to come down and get them on the top of the caged extension!! So my question is should I allow they out to play in the fenced area without me babysitting them? And take the chance? And allow to have a better quality of life? Or keep them in their portable home?