Hawk in the run yesterday

[kaeKY]

Oh dear, can a hawk squeeze through a 2 inch x 4 inch opening? That is the size of the opening in wire fence surrounding my run.

 

[mohawkbrian]

Goshawk Flies Through Tiny Spaces in Slo-Mo! - The Animal's Guide to Britain. Search this on youtube. I know it says theyre from uk but there are species of goshawk all over the world. An immature bird could get throught that gap if it is wire by squeezing.

 

[Pitchfork]

Well as I have said I don't know what got my hen. I think that the fact that the head was severed and left laying next to the body would mean something to the right person. I looked at the neck and, as I said previously, it was cut nice and clean. I don't know if that would just be a coincidence or if there is an animal that would do that. What ever it was it ate only the meat of the back of the bird it did not disturb the internals, and there was only enough feathers removed to get to the part that was eaten. I know that nothing is 100 percent but I have hunted racoons and opossums as a kid and they normally don't come out until an hour or so after sunset, and since my hens are always on the roost just before dark, and this particular hen, being the oldest of the group, usually beat all the others to bed. She would be on the roost an hour before dark every night. So I know she was killed during the day. I examined the head and there were no marks on it. It just looked like someone laid her on a chopping block and chopped off her head. She was old and slow so I think a cat or something could have done it, we do have feral cats that show up every so often, but I don't know if a house cat would go after a chicken. We have a cat and my neighbors have four and they run around all over the place and have never even looked at a chicken so I don't know what to think. For now I am keeping the chickens in their coop. It is large and well ventilated with good light so they can just stay in there until I figure this out.

 

[MrJorge13]

I believe our visitor was a Northern Goshawk but I'm not 100% sure it all happend so fast. I was also thinking it could of been a Coopers hawk??? I hope we never see it again. The top of the run is now sealed up tight with double and tripple layers af bird netting. I have captured 2 opossums they were caught in have a heart traps and relocated along with 3 feed eating squirrels. The Possums never got into the run or coop they can't get past the fence.

 

[mohawkbrian]

Sounds like abird of prey. You mention feathers missing from the area eaten from which is what birds of prey do as they cannot digest the feathers and they only eat the meatiest parts of the birds both of which rule out mammals. If anyone has watched the video I mentioned in my previous post you will see a goshawk is possible of getting into most runs when you don't see how they could have done.

 

[Pitchfork]

Thanks MohawkBrian, your information is what I was hoping to hear. My run is not closed so the hawk would have no trouble just flying down and helping himself. I didn't think it would be a mammal because of the fact that the chicken had suffered such precise damage. I thought that a coyote, which could jump into the run, (it is a four foot high fence protected by chicken wire) would really tear up the body of the bird, as would a coon or 'possum. So I figured it was a hawk, but wanted to hear from someone with more experience. I have lived with this run for six years and we have hawks flying around all the time but they have never bothered the chickens so I have never felt justified spending the money to close it off from the top. My main concern was to keep wondering dogs out and it is very rare to see a stray dog in our area. I have lived here for 22 years and I can count on one hand the number of times a strange dog has been on our place. So I felt that my four foot fence would be fine, as the chickens are closed up every night in a very secure coop and I have had no breaches to the coop, and for six years the run has been safe as well, but now that some hawk has found easy pickens, I guess I will get busy with a closed in run for my chickens. It could be that because we are starting into our third year of a very severe drought that the hawks are finding it harder to pick off the field mice and voles etc.
So thanks again for the info.

 

[mohawkbrian]

Yes your right about a drought. Are their any corvids around(crows etc.) around?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Oh dear, can a hawk squeeze through a 2 inch x 4 inch opening? That is the size of the opening in wire fence surrounding my run.

The small hawk that we had in our area could not fit through the 2*4 inch opening of our fence. once we made sure there were no seams or openings larger than that the hawk has been back only once. the hawk got trapped in our run too when we had seams in the netting. We replaced that netting with a larger net. The hawk came back and sat on a perch but that is the only day we have seen the hawk. my guess the getting trapped did not deter the hawk but not being able to get the meal sure worked.

 

[Pitchfork]

Yes Mohawkbrian we have a lot of crows lately. I think I will close the run with netting over the top and chicken wire from the four foot line up to the top, which I will probably make eight feet high. Right now I have four foot goat panels covered with chicken wire. I wanted the panels to hold out dogs and the chicken wire to keep the chickens from sticking their heads through the goat panel openings, and it has worked pretty well for that. So will probably just set some 4 x 4 post and get started today. I used tee post to hold the goat panels and it was a quick way to build the run and up to now has worked great.

 

[mohawkbrian]

Then the hawk must have been desperate. Crows will attack birds of prey so watch out for them attacking things in the sky. It was probably just a one off event if their is not much food but I would still put a roof on the run.