Michigan

[NovaAman]

LOL! Thats what I have with my silkies! 4 very sweet Roos and only 1 hen! But then I do have 9 hens/pullets that I am pretty certain of. And 2 I am still uncertain of..

 

[7961]

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Good one..Nice coop Opa:

Most clever idea with using the scrap material. Thats what I do best. Were there some plans here on BYC that you got the idea from?

 

[Nigellas]

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Was your Delaware full grown? If so, I think it's really unlikely a hawk could have lifted off with her - a full grown chicken weighs a bit more than they can take off with. I've had them land on and try to eat the hen on the ground though (luckily we stopped it in time!) - Maybe a larger bird of prey could do it, but I'm pretty sure a hawk couldn't... Is it possible your hen flew out on her own and then was attacked by something? I've had chickens clear a 6 foot fence.
Either way, I'm sorry for your loss...

 

[chikkaboomboom]

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Was your Delaware full grown? If so, I think it's really unlikely a hawk could have lifted off with her - a full grown chicken weighs a bit more than they can take off with. I've had them land on and try to eat the hen on the ground though (luckily we stopped it in time!) - Maybe a larger bird of prey could do it, but I'm pretty sure a hawk couldn't... Is it possible your hen flew out on her own and then was attacked by something? I've had chickens clear a 6 foot fence.
Either way, I'm sorry for your loss...

Thank you Nigellas, she was a 18 week old pullet not sure about weight she was the smallest of the 4 white ones, the run is 10 foot fencing, Ive never had any fly out, and the 2 acres is then fenced in again with chain link, wish I would find some feathers or somthing, the rest of the flock stayed inside all day yesterday, they were pretty spooked, usually I leave my pack of herding dogs out with them and I don't worry, but I brought all the dogs in yesterday morning.

 

[NovaAman]

Now I am going to obsess over that. I have lots of trees here, and so far all I have worried about was the coons and foxes. Now I am going to be thinking about hawks. We have them. I think Maybe I will just string a net over top for now. Sorry about your chicken.

 

[babigyrl22]

Quote:
Was your Delaware full grown? If so, I think it's really unlikely a hawk could have lifted off with her - a full grown chicken weighs a bit more than they can take off with. I've had them land on and try to eat the hen on the ground though (luckily we stopped it in time!) - Maybe a larger bird of prey could do it, but I'm pretty sure a hawk couldn't... Is it possible your hen flew out on her own and then was attacked by something? I've had chickens clear a 6 foot fence.
Either way, I'm sorry for your loss...

That would freak me out! I never thought that birds would eat other birds. I was warned about my puppies though (bichons) so I ALWAYS stalked their little white fluffy butts around the yard when they were small.


Off topic question....do deer eat tomato plants? Something has been munching on the tops of them (about 4ft off the ground). I sprayed my apple, cherry, grapes and blueberries with liquid fence....I totally didn't think about the tomatoes but something went to town on them.

 

[chikkaboomboom]

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The weird thing is IF it was a hawk I should be finding a pile of feathers somewhere close by, I read up on hawks ,very few can carry a chicken off, and really if it could lift off it would have set down very close, the tree line is pretty far away here, this happened during the day, and THAT is the only evidence I have that it was a hawk. So I might be completely wrong...

 

[chikkaboomboom]

Babygirl, look for a tomato worm , huge ugly green and scary looking, they are humming bird moths.

 

[Stacykins]

There would definitely be feather evidence of a bird of prey attack, even the larger ones. We have bald eagles up here, I've seen them personally, so I don't doubt they could carry off a chicken if they wanted to. There would be some struggle, and even scruffles between chickens results in feather loss, so there would be feathers about. BUT, a bald eagle's primary diet is fish, their talons are even designed to best capture fish, meaning they'd rather pluck a fat fish out of a river than eat a chicken. I've seen a peregrine falcon in action taking out a pigeon when I lived in Milwaukee. HUGE burst of feathers like the bird just exploded. But then again, peregrines 'punch' their prey with their talons closed into fists to stun/kill it, rather than immediately grab with open talons. Red tailed hawks even have a hard time trying to carry off an adult hare, which would weigh as much as an adult chicken.

Maybe your girl got started by something and flew off. Surprising the amount of life a chicken can get, sometimes! Hopefully she comes home soon if that is the case.

 

[chikkaboomboom]

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O I hope so, I keep walking around looking for her ,funny how attached we get to these guys, I have 700 square feet of rabbit fencing going on top of the run tonight when hubby gets home, I wanted hardware cloth but ouch $$$$ .
I just watched a small hawk circle the coop then fly on...