Hawk went after a chicken today -saved by the saddle! PIX

[NellaBean]

I was out doing my morning chicken stuff and heard all sorts of squawking from the other side of the yard. I'm on a hill, so couldn't see what was happening. I walked up just in time to see something fly up into a small tree.....then fly to the back of the yard. Definitely some sort of small hawk. One of my leghorn jersey giant cross hens came running over from under the tree, her saddle was all fluffed up like something had grabbed it. She wasn't any worse for the wear and joined the group eating scratch in front of the garage. Another one of the leghorn jersey giant cross hens was out in that direction and also came running over....she was fluffed up a bit, like an angry broody. I think she was a bit nervous about the hawk attack.

Yikes! I have never lost a bird to a hawk, but that was a close call. I have a large pen full of bantam babies out back, not sure why the hawk chose the big angry bird over the easy meals. Strange.

Hopefully it learned its lesson......I have quite a few roosters, but they were all eating scratch and didn't even notice. Worthlesss boys......

 

[Cetawin]

That was close. Don't blame the boys just yet...those women are always wandering. My big boy (my avatar) is constantly having to go in different directions getting his women. Ungrateful things those women can be.

Sounds like a juvenile hawk...an adult would have gone after the younger ones if it could see them. Juveniles are still hunt stupid and learning. You could try hanging CDs and such around....they do not like shiny things and the sun reflects off the cds really well. Other than that you are gonna have to keep an eye on your birds until it moves off looking for food somewhere else.

 

[NellaBean]

I've got about a half acre fenced that the chickens free range in. There are lots of hiding places.....and this happened right under a very short fat tree.....suprising place to me, unless the hawk landed in the tree and used it for a launching pad. But no way to really cover or string up cds. Maybe I should put up a few extra "hiding places" in the big open area.

Anywho, I am going to string up some CDs in the baby pen....it is 18x24 with an extra little 8x8 offshoot, so it is actually workable. If I have any more problems, I will let Big Red out for a few days. He is my RIR roo......too rough on the girls, but is great about watching for hawks and doing hawk calls. He is locked up in a tractor for now.

Darn hawks. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning same time.

 

[NellaBean]

Haven't had any issues since that day, but got a good look at the girl that had the run in with the hawk. Her saddle is totally ripped at the top....big gaping hole in it now. Guess her saddle saved the day!

 

[NellaBean]

Finally got a pic of the saddle.......

Guess its time to get saddles back on all the girls again. Pretty sure this one saved her life...