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About a month ago I had a Red-Tail hawk get into one of my inside pens that are all covered and killed several birds, mostly pullets. That was a first for me. Caught it red handed. Over the next few days I lost a few more probably from injuries. I looked the birds over but didn't see any evidence of injuries but a few more ended up dead. I repaired the breach. In total I lost 23 birds. Here are the first few I pulled out of the pen, mostly pullets about ready to start laying.We do. I just looked it up (North Carolina), but they are fairly rare where I am specifically. Like I said though, I've never had a death from birds of prey inside their run. I dont doubt that it could have been a bird of prey, just in disbelief. Though, in my 6 years of raising chickens, I've never once had this happen.
Yeesh
23 birds - that's rough. I once lost 20 Red Star roosters to a neighbor's dog all in one afternoon. Sorry for your losses and the thread OP's loss too.About a month ago I had a Red-Tail hawk get into one of my inside pens that are all covered and killed several birds, mostly pullets. That was a first for me. Caught it red handed. Over the next few days I lost a few more probably from injuries. I looked the birds over but didn't see any evidence of injuries but a few more ended up dead. I repaired the breach. In total I lost 23 birds. Here are the first few I pulled out of the pen, mostly pullets about ready to start laying.
Yep. They are impressive! Very difficult to deter creatures like that with anything short of a covered run.Goshawk are amazing acrobats. I have found Coopers ate similar. We have a Coopers who hangs around. Its favorite method is to sit in our tree and wait for us to let the chickens out of the run. It doesn't swoop. It drops. I've seen it *walk* on the ground, too. I've not lost anyone to if, but that's only because I've been lucky.