Subject: Wildlife predators
I am not a farmer, so I know that I don’t have the experience to understand dealing with the threat of wildlife on livestock. Personally, I love coyotes, possums, raccoons, and animals in general, so I can’t imagine killing one unless it was rabid or attacking. It seems like killing them doesn’t solve the problem since there are more out there, and wild animals are just trying to survive. I would be devastated if a wild animal killed one of my hens, but I wouldn’t take it personally and kill the predator as though it was evil. It’s just an animal that has just as much right to live on the land as we do. However, I understand Chic-n-farmer had no choice but to kill the possum that was already in the coop.
That being said, I have been concerned about the number of hawks flying over our yard checking out our chickens. There have been flocks of 10 - 20 circling around the backyard before departing. I assume the large flocks are migrating. Besides the flocks, I see at least a few hawks flying around daily. I have waved my arms and sounded an emergency alarm, but they haven’t seemed to care although they haven’t landed on the ground. I’ve read some posts on BYC about dealing with hawk problems, but I just wondered if anyone has any tips.
Please do not take my views regarding wild animals personally. As I mentioned, I don’t live the life of farmer who depends on income from livestock. No one can truly know what a person’s life is like, so I am not judging anyone. I’m just expressing my personal thoughts and practices since the wonderful opportunity of this thread/website is being able to learn from each other while respecting individual views. It would be a boring world if we all thought the same way. And, feeling increasingly threatened by hawks has led to me to understand the frustration of not being able to control nature.
We have been very fortunate and while we have lost a few to predators, most of our problems are with neighbor dogs. Just because you live in the country, doesn't mean your dog should be allowed to roam far and wide, wrecking havoc on your neighbors, but that is how a lot of people think. Dogs will kill an entire flock for fun, not because they are hungry. If your birds are dog proof, you will be 10 steps ahead of the predator problem.
Hawks, eagles, etc. are protected by Federal law, so shooting them is out of the question. (You take the chance of possibly killing one that is tagged and the fines are steep.) Thankfully, most other predators; raccoons, fox, coyotes, and the like, strike mostly at night, so if your coop is secure, you will be okay.
We had a hawk have a go at one of our hens last summer while my husband and I were on the front porch.(It couldn't see us under the roof), normally our flock scatter at the slightest shadow from overhead, but they didn't even know there was danger until they saw me running and yelling toward the hawk on the ground. He didn't have time to do any damage as this huge crazy screaming human was bearing down on him..lol. He flew off and landed in a nearby tree until he realized I WASN'T leaving, and left for easier prey. The only thing that is stopping me from shooting a raptor, is that with my luck, I'd kill a tagged one and I can't afford the fines. But as for other predators.. I have a rifle I use to dispatch, as once they know your birds are there, they WILL be back.
Dogs... well you saw my BB gun.. I use that most of the time as I love dogs and really don't want to kill someone's pet, BUT. I have my limits there as well, and once the dog owner is made aware of his/her dog's trespass I expect them to keep them OFF my property and away from my birds. I warn, then they can pay the consequences of their lack of action. I have not had to do this yet, (kill one), but that time will come I am sure, as we have had 2 dog attacks in one week last month.
I do agree with you in that yes, wild animals are only trying to survive, and when we moved out here, I knew that this is nature's law of survival and we would probably lose some of our animals to predators. I do have affinity with that as they only kill to eat and survive, but I also will kill to protect. To avoid having to kill, I just try to make my birds as safe as possible at night, so they and I can sleep soundly.
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