Never buy chicks with out a mother or with a older chicken

[RedJungleFowl]

yesterday a hawk came a landed on thye fence and all that my chicken did was just run and did not even hid and when it landed on the tree the rooster just made noise and not even attacking it so what is wrong

 

[Owingsia]

Sorry that happened. All 30 of our chickens came as chicks. We have bushes and trees here and when hawks fly near they all head for the bushes. It gets real quiet and you can't find the hens. The roos hide too.

 

[satay]

I agree. Roosters will make a noise normally to warn the hens to run. They will usually run for cover too not attack a hawk.

 

[cafarmgirl]

It sounds like the rooster was doing his job. Most roosters are not going to actually try to fly up on a fence or into a tree to go after a hawk. They will stand and watch while making warning noises to the hens. He stands there and allows himself to be seen and be a potential target while the hens take off and hide. That is precisely what my rooster does. The hens will ignore him all day when he complains about doves or other harmless birds flying by but when he see's a hawk and gives the warning those hens disappear into the barn in a flash. He remains out and watching until the hawk flies away.

 

[RedJungleFowl]

but for my chicken all of them just stood there and did not run

 

[Owingsia]

I will say that is odd that they didn't hide. I guess you got an odd bunch. Ours came with no older bird and they are doing fine. I have had people tell me that isn't a good idea however so far they seem ok.

 

[bigoledude]

I've experienced some chickens that were clueless also. It was always the laying hybrids though. We would buy Red Stars or whatever hybrids our local feed store carried. They seem to lose their natural or wild traits faster than other breeds. You could walk up to them and pick them right up. They would come for treats and attention like a dog. Our grandchildren loved them. I just switched to birds that we could sell the chicks and hatching eggs for considerably more money. But, if all I needed was a good mild mannered chicken that layed a ton of eggs, the hybrids would get the nod every time.

 

[Rustywreck]

I lost a hen to a hawk a couple weeks ago. The others were so terrified they hid and didn't want to come out even an hour later. I must have just missed the kill. I followed the feather, found the dead chicken on the ground and the hawk was still in the tree above it. Though I didn't do it, I really wanted to kill that hawk and it would have been easy - it wasn't scared of me at all.
I hope the other chickens have learned the lesson about watching above.
I raised them from chicks, and once they were outside I noticed that they never liked anything being waved over their heads. I guess the just didn't see this one coming.

 

[RedJungleFowl]

yea so that why i say when buying a chicks make sure it has some older birds that knows what danger there are or buy one with a mother

 

[cafarmgirl]

Mine were raised from day old chicks from the feed store, no older birds and no mother hen. But my rooster has always instinctively been suspicious of anything flying overhead and the hens too. Although they pay less attention then he does. Usually they have their heads buried in the pasture grasses, butt's towards the sky!