Hawk IN THE RUN! Pics added Post #12-another injury?

ky chicks

In the Brooder
10 Years
Apr 23, 2009
95
0
39
Yesterday afternoon I was on my way home, when my husband called and told me, "Bad news! There's a hawk in the pen and it killed one of the chicks! Where are you?" I was only about a minute from the house, so they waited for me before doing anything else. When I got there, I ran to the coop, to find my 9-yr-old in the pen with a rake over the hawk. I had 5 6-wk-old pullets in there, and the boys had gotten out the 4 that were still living. We decided to just open the door and let the hawk make his way out of the run, but the dumb thing kept flapping around and banging into just about every part of the fence except where the door is, which is apparently what it was doing until I got there before they covered it with the rake again to keep it from hurting itself. I had to uncover part of the run, over where the hawk was just hanging, upside down, from the chain-link wall of the run. Even then, it just hung there. My son had to gently lift it from underneath with the rake so that it was upright, and it managed to fly away. We were afraid it was going to stress itself out so much that it would just die, but it seemed ok when it got out.

My run is covered with bird netting, and under a large tree. I have never had anything get in there (but I also secure my birds in the coop at night). My only guess is that the hawk managed to get in the top, between the edges of the pieces of netting. One of the pieces was sagging a little because of twigs and leaves on top of it, creating a small gap between it and the adjacent piece. The gap wouldn't be visible from above, though.

The pullet that was killed was a sweet little speckled sussex, one of 2 I ordered myself for my birthday, along with 4 other chickies. I'm bummed out. I do wish I had my phone in my pocket when I went to the coop. Since my other girls were safe, I would have liked some close-up pictures of that hawk.

After 2 1/2 years without incident, we've had terrible luck with our chicks and chickens this summer. Hopefully this will be the last bad news.
 
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Oh my gosh!
sorry about your hen
hugs.gif
 
So sorry to hear of your loss, especially when you did what you were supposed to do to prevent an aerial attack...but I was glad to hear your first inclination wasn't to slaughter the hawk and your concern was to release it w/o harm. I know that is exactly what I would have done. Well done and best of luck with the rest of your girls!
 
OH, I am so sorry that happened. It's one of the sad things about raising chickens. I really like to free range mine, and I seem to lose one a year to a hawk. I know how you feel.
 
he'd best be happy that he got in your coop and killed your chickens, instead of mine. i'm not of a mind to show much charity to anything that kills my chickens. i guess it takes all kinds to make a community, i'm positive others here feel the same as i do.
 
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Just know that harming or killing any bird of prey is highly illegal. They are federally protected. I guess if you want to donate to the government in the form of a massive fine, go ahead.
 
when was this????co-incidentally i had a hawk in my run yesterday, killed 2 silkies, im devastated! ive now rapped foil around bits of my net, everywhere! it looks a bit scruffy but the idea is that it shines the light up and temporally blinds the bird and deters it away. also i will be getting a goose and a gander soon, hopefully seeing another big bird will warn/scare it away, and the gander may fight for its coop....hopefully
 
So sorry about your chick.
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That is just really sad. On the other hand, even though the hawk killed your baby, I'm glad that you safely released him and took great care in being kind to him. This has been a hard summer here, and I know the birds of prey have had a tough time in our area. Hopefully after you fix your top, everyone will be safe again. Good luck!
 
Just know that harming or killing any bird of prey is highly illegal. They are federally protected. I guess if you want to donate to the government in the form of a massive fine, go ahead.

just know that there is no way for them to know if you kill a hawk or not.... if you shoot it in your backyard and burry it on the spot.... nothing will happen. Unless you live in an urban area.​
 

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