Hen Lost in Daytime - Do Hawks Do This?

[endermom]

My husband and I were looking it up, and we think that its red shouldered hawks that are causing our problems. They glide over the property and you can see a light colored underbelly. Usually it is only 1 hawk alone. I think I've only once seen two of them circling at one time. All I know is that they are causing us no end of grief. On the good side, it appears that the little chicken might make it. She was hobbling around drunkenly on both legs for a few moments today, though she is very unsteady and always leaning to the left. I got her to drink a little water and eat a little oatmeal this morning, and she may be drinking and eating in the quarantine cage that I have her in, though I'm not sure. If I can just get her to start eating well again, I think she may actually pull though.

 

[mirsy09]

I live in the Pacific Northwest and we have both hawks and eagles. I do not let my girls out because of this AND I even put a large metal mesh on their run. I also raised my girls from babies and would hate to loose them. I did let them out for an hour the last couple of days to weed my veggie garden and eat slugs.... but I stayed outside to watch. I did see a huge eagle fly over, but he was headed elsewhere. I am very vigilant. I have had a hawk grab a bird at my feeder ! If they are hungry, they know easy prey.

 

[princessmama]

Quote:
Depends on where you live. If you have seen a lot of Red Tails then you would not mistake a Coopers as they are nearly half the size. From your description; I figure either an adolescent Red Tail “Rufous-phase” or possibly a Red Shouldered Hawk. If it had white banding through out it's wings and some on chest and had a rust red chest overall...then it was probably a mature Red Shouldered.

Oops!! I meant Red Shouldered Hawk, not Cooper's Hawk. The pictures I saved were of a red shouldered hawk. Sheesh.

It's hard to remember exactly. I tried sneaking up there with my camera but with the chickens in he wasn't around. Hopefully moved on. I remember black and white banding and a flash of red chest.

 

[JerseyHen]

I live in northern NJ and we have several hawks that use our property (and the surrounding forest and wetlands) as hunting grounds. We are getting our first chicken flock in Spring, so we have been watching them for the past year to see how they behave. One of the hawks that we have is a Harrier. It is a large (almost 2 feet tall) hawk and we have seen it take full grown rabbits. It often cannot carry the full weight so it will eat until the prey is light enough to carry or will tear it into manageable parts. They are ruthless when they attack. We also have Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, Bald eagles, and Red-tailed. I am sure we have some others as well. Last summer we had the local raptor rescue come to take away a great-horned owl that was roosting on the ground (ill). So we know we have owls as well. We fear for our little fuzzies that are coming, but we will have a covered run (not sure what will happen when we free range). I will let everyone know what happens when our chickens move outside.

We have noticed most activity in the early am and early evening (as have some other posters). Some of them will take a bird in flight (seems they particularly like the mourning doves). I ran one off after it had killed a bunny (just to see what it would do and to see how much damage it did with one hit). The bunny's neck was nearly severed at the base of the skull and the hawk just flew off and stared me down (from about 20 feet away). As soon as I moved off it returned to eat the bunny and carry off the leftovers. I am not sure if we can introduce any legal aversion therapy outside of having a presence when they are free ranging. I do know they are afaid of our dog. They don't come anywhere on the property when he is outside and they fly off if they see him.

Ther is a great site for wild bird identification that includes markings, habitat, call audio files, pics, and videos. I hope it helps you identify your babies tormentor (not that you can really do anything since they are protected):search for allaboutbirds or the Cornell Ornithology Lab Bird Guide (I cannot post the link because I am a newegg).

 

[tcates]

Quote:
Update on said hawk..... Evidently it tried to take on a moving vehicle down the road, and lost that fight! Really great thing is.... it was so aggressive it ran off all the other hawks in area, so girls have enjoyed a few days of complete freedom