I rambo-ed an enormous bald eagle attacking one of my babies

[janiedoe]

Did I read that right? You say you have a 10' fence. That's incredible.

I was more shocked by the 4' tall eagle. He must of been a Texas eagle.

 

[Andrea PNW]

I was more shocked by the 4' tall eagle. He must of been a Texas eagle.

I've only seen eagles in the sky - and they are far away. It was my first on the ground encounter and since I was completely out of my mind I barely registered how big he was until after. He was flying fast and I was so afraid I had lost her but he dropped her because he couldn't seem to get her more than 3 or 4ft off the ground.

 

[SummerTheAnimalGirl]

Wow, That’s crazy!! So glad you were able to save her. Something similar happened to me last year. A Bobcat was attacking one of my pullets, and actually had her in its mouth! My dad jumped from a five foot window and got the bobcat to drop my girl (thank you dad!) she had one or two puncture wounds and very bad shock, but is doing fine today and one of my most adventurous chickens!

 

[Andrea PNW]

Wow, That’s crazy!! So glad you were able to save her. Something similar happened to me last year. A Bobcat was attacking one of my pullets, and actually had her in its mouth! My dad jumped from a five foot window and got the bobcat to drop my girl (thank you dad!) she had one or two puncture wounds and very bad shock, but is doing fine today and one of my most adventurous chickens!

That makes my heart sparkle. Two days on and Bela seems almost back to normal but definitely sticking to the perimeter and still a bit more quiet than normal. I was out with them in the freezing cold rain for a few hours so they could free range.

There was a big eagle circling my property this morning for quite awhile but I had my babies in the pen for most of the day after I let them out of the quackhouse.

I've got SIX cameras out there keeping tabs on my girls and a 10ft fence around all 2acres but outside of raccoons and coyotes trying to climb/jump over the fence - all those cameras are useless purely because of how fast the whole thing happened.

If I was 15secs late busting thru the screen door it would have all been over for my baby.

My goodness - why did we pick such helpless animals to love as pets? Basically every living thing larger than it wants to eat them and they can't fly or defend themselves. Keeping them safe is exhausting. I get a little bit crazy when I see a first time duck parent post on social media about how excited they to adopt ONE duckling from a feed store.

They aren't disposable to me. And I'll totally plead temporary insanity if I do something stupid while trying to keep them safe.

 

[Awaytome]

You aren't alone! Last spring there was a huge number of eagles moving through our area. My husband did the exact same rescue you did. From the window noticed an eagle on top of something that turned out to be a duck, flew out the door grabbing a broom on the way, and scared the eagle off. Poor duck had a puncture wound in his neck but recovered quickly. A neighbor had the same experience a week later, charging out the door to save her duck from an eagle flying off with it. We lost one duck before we could put up overhead netting to a large area of the yard that we temporarily fence to keep the ducks in and protected during raptor migrations.

 

[Andrea PNW]

You aren't alone! Last spring there was a huge number of eagles moving through our area. My husband did the exact same rescue you did. From the window noticed an eagle on top of something that turned out to be a duck, flew out the door grabbing a broom on the way, and scared the eagle off. Poor duck had a puncture wound in his neck but recovered quickly. A neighbor had the same experience a week later, charging out the door to save her duck from an eagle flying off with it. We lost one duck before we could put up overhead netting to a large area of the yard that we temporarily fence to keep the ducks in and protected during raptor migrations.

It was terrifying how close it can get to losing them!

 

[Lor]

So glad to hear you were able to save your duck!

 

[Jenbirdee]

Oh. My. GAWD. Yesterday morning I had one of the most traumatic close calls of my whole life. I was in the kitchen - barefoot, in my pajamas and a t-shirt (no bra) and out of the corner of my eye all I saw was giant wings, a giant white head and Bela was screaming. It must have just landed on her that instant. She had been running full bore to the house and had pinned her down about 20ft away from my back door.

I ran full bore and busted straight thru the screen door in my bare feet in the pouring rain screaming "nooooooo you mother ****er!!!" The screen door went flying and the eagle turned tail and tried to fly off with her in the other direction. My babies are spoiled and fat so he was having a hard time getting her airborne more than 3ft. He got halfway across the yard and I almost got a hold of his tail feather and he finally dropped her cuz he wouldn't have been able to clear the 10ft fence.

I snatched her up and miraculously, outside of feathers ripped out of her neck and intense psychological trauma - she is physically unharmed. As I was sitting in the wet grass barefoot holding her and checking her out, that eagle flew back over the yard super low and slow to perch in the top of a tree overlooking my house. He was clearly pissed I ruined his meal and was waiting to make another attempt. The neighbor had to come over to stand watch while I got her and the rest of my Heathers safely into the quackhouse.

I was doing that hyperventilating/sobbing/shaking thing and the adrenaline was so intense I threw up twice afterwards. If I would have gotten my hands on him I'd probably have had to go to the hospital first (he was at least 4ft tall standing) and then to jail cuz I was completely out of control. It was hindsight that I remembered that you can't harm a bald eagle.

She's still a little off kilter today. Very quiet and not as spirited as usual but she's been eating fine so hopefully she's just working thru her shock.

There will be no more free ranging in the yard without me physically being outside. I never want to go thru that ever again.

Thanks for listening. I just needed to emote to other duck parents. Y'all would understand.

wow just wow Thanks God she was ok You did awesome

 

[Andrea PNW]

I had a very similar experience at the beginning of the year! Ran out into the snow in my socks shouting and waving my arms like a madman. Fortunately, my duck was able to get under cover before she was grabbed, so the eagle wasn't able to just swoop off with mine either. Just a few small scratches and a lot of shock. She was fine after I got some electrolytes in her and let her rest inside a couple of days though.

I got a picture of the young eagle that attacked a month or so later sitting on the sand dune.

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I have so much love and respect for eagles. I'm in awe when I see them. Until they try and eat one of my babies. I just see red. Zero control.

 

[Isopallii]

Oh. My. GAWD. Yesterday morning I had one of the most traumatic close calls of my whole life. I was in the kitchen - barefoot, in my pajamas and a t-shirt (no bra) and out of the corner of my eye all I saw was giant wings, a giant white head and Bela was screaming. It must have just landed on her that instant. She had been running full bore to the house and had pinned her down about 20ft away from my back door.

I ran full bore and busted straight thru the screen door in my bare feet in the pouring rain screaming "nooooooo". The screen door went flying and the eagle turned tail and tried to fly off with her in the other direction. My babies are spoiled and fat so he was having a hard time getting her airborne more than 3ft. He got halfway across the yard and I almost got a hold of his tail feather and he finally dropped her cuz he wouldn't have been able to clear the 10ft fence.

I snatched her up and miraculously, outside of feathers ripped out of her neck and intense psychological trauma - she is physically unharmed. As I was sitting in the wet grass barefoot holding her and checking her out, that eagle flew back over the yard super low and slow to perch in the top of a tree overlooking my house. He was clearly pissed I ruined his meal and was waiting to make another attempt. The neighbor had to come over to stand watch while I got her and the rest of my Heathers safely into the quackhouse.

I was doing that hyperventilating/sobbing/shaking thing and the adrenaline was so intense I threw up twice afterwards. If I would have gotten my hands on him I'd probably have had to go to the hospital first (he was at least 4ft tall standing) and then to jail cuz I was completely out of control. It was hindsight that I remembered that you can't harm a bald eagle.

She's still a little off kilter today. Very quiet and not as spirited as usual but she's been eating fine so hopefully she's just working thru her shock.

There will be no more free ranging in the yard without me physically being outside. I never want to go thru that ever again.

Thanks for listening. I just needed to emote to other duck parents. Y'all would understand.

omg, This story made my eyes water a bit.