Hen Lost in Daytime - Do Hawks Do This?

[mistymeadowchicks]

Quote:
Agree w/ both! The number I've heard quoted was 20%. A hawk or falcon is only successful at getting their prey 20% of the time. But, because of the high speed they achieve, if they are on target, death is almost instant at impact. And they don't always carry their prey away either. We have numerous smaller red tail hawks in this area which watch my chickens often, but have never bothered the full grown ones. I did lose a 4-5 lb. hen to some much larger, darker bird. It swooped & slammed her, then proceeded to rip her to shreds taking out mouthfuls of feathers at a time. This happened in the front flower bed less than 5 ft from the house & he came back 4 times to finish eating in spite of dogs, yelling people, etc. It made no attempt to carry her off, but this is winter & I doubt they have young to feed either?

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

Our chickens free range on a couple of acres and we have had red tailed hawks kill two birds. They do sit in the tree and wait for an opportunity, and then strike. In our experience, they will eat or carry away a small amount of the kill, but leave the kill and return daily to eat until they have finished the chicken off.

 

[tcates]

Had an incident just the other day...... I have a rule, I NEVER let me girls out until the afternoon on the basis that I have seen hawk activity in the morning and early evening, never in afternoon. I have even let them free range while I was gone (in afternoon). The other day I was foggy brained and responded to their pleas.... let them out before 10AM. Luckily I was home.... heard an unbelievable ruckus... went to investigate.. the "momma" hen (bossy one) was throwing herself against the french doors and screeching like a banshee.... went out to investigate.... 2 hens in run, Momma trying to lead me to side yard by privacy fence... There was "crazy" in a losing fight with a white hawk. Once I spotted the fight and started screaming, she ran into run for protection. Against the privacy fence was a white hawk on my crazy girl turning her, trying to get a good hold and ripping her feathers out in the process. I was screaming, flailing my arms trying to get the hawk to get off her... I finally had to knock the hawk off with my hand cast (joint replacement). Crazy was beaten up, could barely walk and looked really sad. Most of her tail feathers (except one, which looks weird) are gone and all wing feathers on one side are gone, but she has survived and is as crazy as usual, but much less stupid (she now listens to "momma" when she squawks danger). I have learned my lesson (follow gut instinct about when to let them free range) and the girls are now running for cover when they see a hawk even if they are in the run. As for the hawk...... followed it to its nest (after it came back and dive bombed me later) and it will be gone once my hand is out of this cast! Or at least the nest will!!!!

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

A hawk took two of my chickens last week. Now they stay under a poultry net.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
*cough* Do not joke about doing illegal things.

 

[OneCrazyChickenLady]

I had one of my silver laced wyandottes just disappear one day. Just found a puff of feathers in the middle of the yard. I had seen a small reddish colored hawk around, but the chickens were usually only out when we were outside. I forgot to put them back in the pen before going to get my son from school and pouf she was gone!

No other way to get out of the yard so I am thinking it had to have been a hawk of some sort....

 

[tcates]

Chicken.Lytle :

Quote:
*cough* Do not joke about doing illegal things.

Thanks Chicken.Lytle.... did not realize they AND their nests are protected......

guess the girls are in jail until I can build a bigger Covered run for them!​

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Cooper's hawks will chase birds on the ground. I see hawks more often in the afternoon than in the morning. In the morning I see them only early morning, then usually not until noon or later.

 

[princessmama]

We just lost our "boss" hen today to a hawk. I'd seen one sitting in a low tree right next to the coop yesterday. Forgot to tell the kids not to let the chickens out today

(they usually do the feeding/egg gathering and remember to leave the chickens in if we are going to be gone) Can't believe it. It was right under the tree. He just sat in the tree waiting til she came under there. We don't have a run, we let the chickens out when we are home and patrol the area several times a day, seems to keep the predators away just fine. The only time we lose chickens during the day is when we don't walk up there for some reason. We were gone for a few hours this afternoon (another reason to leave them inside today *sigh*) When we got home I immediately walked up to check and saw the hawk fly off. It amazes me he was perched so low. I kept counting the chickens over and over and thinking there was one missing. They're hard to count, lol! Finally decided they were all there and turned around to walk back, looked under the hawk tree and

 

[bairo]

Basically the rule of thumb for Hawks and large owls is they will try to carry away anything under about 2 lbs and will try to eat as much as they can at the kill site for anything about 2 lbs and up. Although... if a female has new babies at the nest, she may try harder to carry more weight. Remember that even very large hawks rarely exceed 4 lbs of actual body weight them selves.

For the person who saw an owl during the day....This could have been a snowy owl (the only one I believe hunts during the day)

If you see a Raptor swooping from a tree branch; this is most likely a falcon or coopers hawk. Most likely a falcon that many people mistake for a hawk. Falcons prefer to come in low and slow compared to a hawks high and fast with exception of a Coopers or Sharp-Shinned which usually will not go after anything bigger than one lb. Think pigeon size as the upper limit.

Hope this helps...but the solution is nearly the same for all. Good hardware cloth and plenty of cover when free ranging. I admit to being new at the BYC thing, but I have experience with Raptors.
P.S. I know it is frustrating, but please do not try to kill these animals. They play a very important role in nature and are only acting on instinct.