I nearly had a heart attack! My first predator sighting....

[miss_jayne]

and STAYING ON TOPIC........since this is about the first predator sighting in Quail_Antwerp's yard and NOT the laws concerning birds of prey.... feel free to start a NEW topic or participate elsewhere as there are hundreds in that category to choose from....

how you holding up there QA???? do i need to ship my shovel over? maybe an edger or a spade? the coal shovel is rather large and very heavy. you need to know what you can work with at first. hmmmm.

ooooooh, what about one of those ergonomic handled jobbers??? now, there are lots of hand tools that are great also, but you have to chuck them with great force, knock the vermin out then move fast enough to finish the job before said vermin 'comes too'.

 

[ellieroo]

We had a Coopers hawk land in our pasture looking for chicken dinner at the time had 5 banty roos that worked as a unit. they gathered together and advanced on the hawk the hens behind, It would have done a tribe of meerkats proud! The hawk appeared very confused and departed! We had to listen to much "self congradulations" crowing but it was amazing to watch. Our dog is self trained hawk spoter and she doesn't miss many. If he shows up again mark the time of day they usually retrurn at the same time.Good Luck!

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Sorry if you felt we were not thinking of QA--really, I was!

to QA ! Some of us just responded in a different manner. Killing the hawk was a solution one poster used out of fear for her chickens just like QA and your offer to bring the shovel and tools. I mentioned netting and that I would also walk through fire for my pets. I feel it was handled pretty well and everyone here understands how devastating it can be.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Hey guys, I'm good!

Just went and spent a killing on chicken feed for my Hawk Stomping Langshan Roo

Oh and the rest of the flock, too

Haven't seen the hawk around since, but I'm not giving up my vigil!!

 

[gsim]

Your roo earned his keep just that one time. No telling what would have happened had he not distracted the hawk. I am afraid of free ranging for that reason, plus I will never put up with poop near the house. So I built an extra large pen, 2000 sq ft electrified. The chooks get locked in every night too. Take a bear of two-legged pred to get one of ours on a night raid. My pen is open to sky tho because it is so large and because we have a bid resident crow population that usually run preds off.

That said, we had a scare just this week with a chicken hawk landing on corner post of pen sizing things up for a meal. Wife saw it and ran out scaring it away. May have strayed into territory while migrating? First ever close one since pen done in July. May have to criss-cross with twine and hang CD's and pie tins too. Still no guarantee of preventing one from dropping in and walking up to one or more and killing one. Mine remained huddled in corner together and no one ran, so that may have given them just enough time for us to get out there.