Hawks!

[Mnmgurl1823]

We saw these hawks swoop down almost to the coop! They are those small white dots circled in yellow. I missed it but luckily we caught it on the cams. We had one chicken that was on the outside of the coop, thankfully she didnt get picked up. Our chickens are getting pretty big so we hoped the size scared them away.

 

[hysop]

Unless your chickens are twice as big and heavy than a hawk then they won’t scare away a hawk ever.

Is their run covered?

ETA: my comment was a joke, there are no chickens that can be too big to be taken by a hawk or lost to one.

 

[BlueBaby]

Don't count on the size of your free range chicken's keeping away a hungry hawk. I've seen some say that hawk's will also go for duck's.

 

[centrarchid]

Are they by any chance Swallow-tailed Kites? @Mnmgurl1823 your location would be informative on that. If I am correct, the knee-jerk response of danger to chickens not correct.

 

[Mnmgurl1823]

Unless your chickens are twice as big and heavy than a hawk then they won’t scare away a hawk ever.

Is their run covered?

ETA: my comment was a joke, there are no chickens that can be too big to be taken by a hawk or lost to one.

Ohh really? I was under the assumption that they wouldnt go after one that they cant carry. Would they just attempt to grab them and drop them if they cant hold on to a chicken??

 

[Mnmgurl1823]

Are they by any chance Swallow-tailed Kites? @Mnmgurl1823 your location would be informative on that. If I am correct, the knee-jerk response of danger to chickens not correct.

View attachment 2213202

We are located a little west of Fort Worth, Texas. I'm not sure if it was the swallow-tailed kites. It didn't seem to have that split tail. I only have a video of them but I wasn't able to post it.

 

[Mnmgurl1823]

Don't count on the size of your free range chicken's keeping away a hungry hawk. I've seen some say that hawk's will also go for duck's.

Oh wow that is good to know! Thank you!

 

[centrarchid]

Ohh really? I was under the assumption that they wouldnt go after one that they cant carry. Would they just attempt to grab them and drop them if they cant hold on to a chicken??

Answer is species dependent. None can fly off with some more than 1/3 their own weight. Many, but not all, can kill prey items like chickens that are 2 or 3 times their weight. I see most of that outside the raptor breeding. Species ID is very important. Chicken keepers on average not real good with hawk species ID. Better images needed.


East Texas to best of my knowledge in range of Swallow-tailed Kite. Adult Mississippi Kite can also appear whitish from side. They have a square tail. Also not a threat to chickens.

Photographer below only one easily found that post what you see under typical lighting I see.

 

[hysop]

Ohh really? I was under the assumption that they wouldnt go after one that they cant carry. Would they just attempt to grab them and drop them if they cant hold on to a chicken??

They have really large claws so sometimes even if they can’t carry it off they can pin it down and eat it on the ground.

 

[Mnmgurl1823]

Answer is species dependent. None can fly off with some more than 1/3 their own weight. Many, but not all, can kill prey items like chickens that are 2 or 3 times their weight. I see most of that outside the raptor breeding. Species ID is very important. Chicken keepers on average not real good with hawk species ID. Better images needed.


East Texas to best of my knowledge in range of Swallow-tailed Kite. Adult Mississippi Kite can also appear whitish from side. They have a square tail. Also not a threat to chickens.

Photographer below only one easily found that post what you see under typical lighting I see.

View attachment 2213462

WOW! That is crazy. Thank you for the information!