HAWK killed my Silkie :( what kind is this?

[equinelyn]

sadly a hawk found it's way into our chicken coop. We didn't get home til after dark and all the other chickens were in the coop and this hawk was still standing on my silkies dead body. I'm sure once it got in, it couldn't get out. My first instinct was to kill it, but after doing some research i found out these are federally protected? I really wish my dog would have found this darn thing before I did, and killed it. But I just got a broom and pushed it out of the coop. It didn't want to leave, it opened up it's wings and just laid on it's back. So I somehow go it to stand on the broom and carried it down the driveway and put it on the ground in the woods at the bottom of our driveway.. I also have a BSL rooster and hen, RIR hen, 2 americauna hens, and 2 other silkies..

Questions...
1- About these laws.. why can't we protect our livestock? I live in PA and you can't even relocate these things, you can only scare it away. and it's a $10,000 fine if you are caught killing one.
2- what type of hawk is this?
3- will a rooster fight these off? (refer to pic 3)
4- can this thing kill my larger hens? Or does it only prey on smaller chickens like silkies?



BTW it was flying around my coop the next day, and after that perched about 30 feet in a tree watching the coop. It will keep coming back. All we could do was reinforce the pen, and not them out to free-roam for God knows how long.... And the silkie, it was Fifi, my avatar.

Check out my pics..

Here it is on top of my silkie

I tried to nudge it off my chickens dead body to get it out of my coop and it fell backward and opened it's wings.

I think there are some feathers missing in the middle of the chest.. My BSL rooster perhaps?

The only way I could get it to leave the area, carry it off!

 

[shellybean40]

wow! I don't know what kind of hawk it is, but weird behavior/

 

[equinelyn]

I'm not sure if it was in shock from maybe a rooster fight, or it was dark and they don't fly at night? Because it didn't want to fly.. But the next day it was DEFINITELY flying over our coop..

I found this video of a hawk that looks similar, and the chickens attacked it.. And it laid on it's back the exact same way...

 

[Zigmont]

So sorry to hear about your Silkie. My Buffy was killed in September and that hawk still comes around looking for more. Although the temptation must have been strong, best you didn't kill it. I am not sure i would have had that restraint. It looks like a Coopers Hawk, very common in PA area. It looks really beat up from trying to escape, that is why you had to put it on the broom. It was probably exhausted. So much for the theory that they won't go in anywhere they can't get out... Maybe there is something wrong with it and it can't hunt properly. If it looks weak, call animal control or the division of wildlife and forestry.

 

[Zigmont]

I didn't realize how dark it was. Probably right about the darkness. As tough of a predator as they are, they are still birds and vulnerable at night.

 

[equinelyn]

So there is no way my rooster would have tried to fight it?

 

[Symphony]

It's not a coopers hawk, it's a teenager red shoulder hawk.

The rooster CERTAINLY attacked it, especially since it's weak.

Use Niteguard to protect from further attacks, those are special flashing lights you can buy, it saved our hens from owls.

 

[teach1rusl]

Wow! Sorry about your little silkie

I'll bet the hawk is young, and that's why it's so bold. Yeah, I'd definitely beef up security - did you find the place where it got into the run?? I'm just wondering if there was a gap it found, or whether it just waltzed in through the open run door before the door was shut for the night, or whether it actually pulled wire up???

 

[9Catsz]

Hawks can't see at night, that's why it wouldn't fly away.

 

[equinelyn]

we use netting on the top of our pen, and there was a spot that we had to use a separate sheet of netting. I guess we didn't overlap it enough and it dove down at the perfect spot and went right between but couldn't get out...