My chickens killed a hawk?!!! Or a falcon? or something! *grapic pics!

[redhen]

Quote:
LOL okay, smarty pants!

 

[kayri]

I'm sorry about your hen. We too lost a girl, Henrietta, to a hawk yesterday, the second one in a month. So I fenced off a smaller part of their electic fence run (which is about 1/8 of an acre) with 4 ft plastic covered wire and then attached some woven mesh nylon net 12 ft by 30 ft to the electric fence and the 4 ft fence and strung it to the coop and to the openings of a 12 x 4 and 6 X4 plastic covered tunnels that I have for them. I used a thousand cable ties and the areas that were not covered, I crisscrossed fishing line and hung a CD from. It took me about 4 and half hours and I only despaired 3 times, and called my sister and made her come and do it with me. The ground here is of course frozen rock solid so I couldn't set any of the 6 ft fence posts I bought. I think it will be good unless we get a freezing rain (not uncommon in the NorthEast) and then I bet the weight of it will pull down the fence etc. With any luck we will get a Jan thaw and I can set some of those metal fence posts. It isn't great, but I saw 4 hawks circling the other day 2 huge redtails and 2 smaller ones, and the only other option is to shut my remaining 8 girls in the two small coops or in one of the tunnels all day. They have cover, (the tunnels) and stuff to duck under, but I'm afraid the hawk will land, walk up to the birds and kill them. I heard the girls yelling the other day and when I came, a small black hawk (Cooper's hawk?) took off from the ground where my small game bird was cowering under a little bush. Will try to download some pics tomorrow.

Kay

edited for grammar

 

[Mahonri]

I just saw another hawk swoop over while my girls were free ranging this evening. Glad I was there... wish I dared load a shotgun in the city.

 

[19hhbelgian]

So sorry about your girl

I was wondering... Would the red tail have come down and killed the (what I think is a) Kestrel (falcon family) thinking it was another chicken?

 

[chickencoop31320]

Redhen, Cool beans on your killer chickens

Mahonri - I love your quote, if only someone would send it to the folks in the big white house...

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Bruce Lee chicken move #101 NICE!!!!

Heck thats nothing, I had a game rooster i would take pheasant and quail hunting. Didnt even need a gun, when the birds flushed my rooster would fly up 12 feet and knock down the birds, sometimes he would hit three quail before he hit the ground!!!!!




Sad thing he is in jail, for hunting without a license.......

 

[redhen]

Deerman..

 

[Monteen]

It's always sad to lose one...we love 'bait'. I'm sorry for your loss. It seems that everyone loves the taste of chicken. I'm sure you are working towards covering their pen. It's a constant challenge to keep them protected. There was some lingering doubt that hubby counted correctly, so it's also possible that the chicken might have been killed overnight by a nocturnal predator and the hawk was feeding on the carcass. It would have been easy to tell by the ratio of meat left on the chicken to the size of the hawk's crop.

It's interesting that the roosters were able to subdue and kill the hawk, but I've seen some MEAN boys! The hawk must have been very hungry for that to have happened. Please keep in mind that raptors are here to keep a balance in nature and our beloved chicky-poodles are pretty close to the bottom of the food chain, so try and not hate them too much. http://monteenmccord.blogspot.com

 

[Brindlebtch]

I just walked outside because one of my chickens was giving an alarm call and that dang redtail hawk was sitting in the oak tree right over their yard. I'm going to invest in some of that netting you use to keep birds off of fruit trees and stretch that out in swaths.

 

[jenni2142]

I didn't read all the posts but saw a great way to protect from hawks if netting can not be put up. The person put a post in center of the run and just ran string from center to fence, like an umbrella frame. Consider the wingspan of what you want to keep out and place it at that distance on the fence. I will see if I can find the link to the pics. I am sorry you lost your girl, it is always our favorites.