- Feb 24, 2008
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Yes, hawks will kill chickens. Number one chicken killer among the hawks, at least for my area, is the Coopers. We do have lots of kestrels and sharp shins but the kestrels are no problem...they are small birds and don't even seem interested in chicks. The sharp shins have taken a dive on chicks but we haven't actually lost any to them. This place is paradise for birds of prey, so we also see broad winged hawks, red-tailed hawks, falcons, ospreys (strictly fish eaters), owls of every shape and size, and bald eagles. In summer heat, when the birds want to abandon their safe roost poles for the cooler trees, the owls can be a serious threat. Once they find the chickens, they keep coming back, killing birds that are far bigger than they can carry away. And they will pick holes in netting stretched over a pen, and still find their way back out, with the chicken in tow. Sneaky devils.
The falcons routinely take adult ducks out on the water, so I do wonder if they would mess with domestic ducks, especially the smaller call ducks, but they never messed with my cayugas, and I don't think they have gone after the chickens. The red-tails are certainly big enough to threaten chickens, but I can't recall one ever actually going after my flock. They spend their time hunting roads, power line right-of-ways, and skimming along the edge of the woods, watching both crop field and forest.
Of them all, the flat out worst threat to my poultry is the bald eagle. IMO, there is not a species of domestic fowl they won't try. A pair of them wiped out an entire flock of Bourbon Red Turkeys, fully adult hens weighing over 10 pounds each, over the course of a month. The only saving grace is that they don't seem to want to hit birds that are close to humans. All of the turkeys were taken from the corn field or the orchard. Once the turkeys were all gone, the eagles continued to patrol open areas and the edges of the yard around the chicken flock, but the chickens were onto them, and would sound the alarm when the eagle was still way off in the distance.
Predators are opportunistic and are going to explore novel food (or potential food) items in their area.. Just because a hawk or owl hasn't taken a chicken in the past is a poor guarentee that he will not do so the next time a fat, slow, white chicken is sitting in a sunbeam begging to be dinner.
The falcons routinely take adult ducks out on the water, so I do wonder if they would mess with domestic ducks, especially the smaller call ducks, but they never messed with my cayugas, and I don't think they have gone after the chickens. The red-tails are certainly big enough to threaten chickens, but I can't recall one ever actually going after my flock. They spend their time hunting roads, power line right-of-ways, and skimming along the edge of the woods, watching both crop field and forest.
Of them all, the flat out worst threat to my poultry is the bald eagle. IMO, there is not a species of domestic fowl they won't try. A pair of them wiped out an entire flock of Bourbon Red Turkeys, fully adult hens weighing over 10 pounds each, over the course of a month. The only saving grace is that they don't seem to want to hit birds that are close to humans. All of the turkeys were taken from the corn field or the orchard. Once the turkeys were all gone, the eagles continued to patrol open areas and the edges of the yard around the chicken flock, but the chickens were onto them, and would sound the alarm when the eagle was still way off in the distance.
Predators are opportunistic and are going to explore novel food (or potential food) items in their area.. Just because a hawk or owl hasn't taken a chicken in the past is a poor guarentee that he will not do so the next time a fat, slow, white chicken is sitting in a sunbeam begging to be dinner.
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