It seems to be raining... Birds of prey, that is!

[off-grid hen]

*No chickens or birds of prey were harmed*

I decided to be brave and let my 16 chickens out of the 10 x 30 run for some free range time. We have a lot of birds of prey, but I haven't seen any in a while, so I thought, no biggie. I set up a comfy chair and let the birds out. Within 10 minutes, I heard an eagle shriek. A few minutes went by, I saw a red tailed hawk in the distance. At the 20 minute mark, a barred owl swooped down to about 10 ft above my head. The chickens FRLIPPED OUT and ran under the coop's trailer, and wouldn't come out for an hour.

I already knew we had turkey vultures, crows, a boatload of raccoons, skunks, coyotes, fishers, etc etc etc. I guess I won't be letting the girls out while I'm not standing there with a broom. There goes my plans to let them free range while I'm at work. It's a good thing my run is secure. I want to make it bigger so they have more area to roam, I feel so guilty penning them up.

 

[bryan99705]

Kinda felt like the person at Marine World holding out a herring for a killer whale to come up out of the water and grab, huh!

 

[hcppam]

You'd feel worse if you came home and found blood feathers.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yeah, it stinks! I lost several to hawks, and two to black vultures . I know there are owls and eagles as well around here. Free ranging is a dangerous occupation for chickens around here:-(

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
The shriek was probably the red tailed hawk. Eagles make a noise that sounds more like clucking; in fact, it is so unimpressive a sound that filmmakers use the call of the red tailed hawk whenever an eagle is supposed to be making a sound.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
I think she was the third person that particular whale has killed; we thought it was funny in a sick sort of way when he bagged the first one in BC, given that someone had named him "Tillikum" which means "friend" in Chinook Wawa.

 

[off-grid hen]

Quote:
Well, then that only makes 2 in 20 minutes. I saw an eagle last week, though. So he/she was probably lurking in the trees, pointing and laughing.