PoppasGrill
Songster
So, my wife went out to the coops this morning and notice a difference in the flock’s demeanor. Once she started looking around she found 2 dead chickens, a Roo and hen, just inside the barn torn up, but not a lot of feathers around. She walked out to the
pasture and found 7 more dead chickens in differing states of mangled.
As she was walking out to where the donkeys were standing, since they were acting weirder than normal, they were standing over another dead hen, an eagle swooped down into the pasture . She was flabbergasted, and a little scared. By her discription , this thing could have carried off our dog, huge, with razor sharp talons and a bad attitude. She started yelling and it flew off a ways and was just circling.
She asked our neighbor if he saw anything, since she didn’t hear anything this morning and the carcasses weren’t there last night, and he said he watched it grab a “Orange chicken” and fly across the street yesterday but hadn’t seen her to let her know.
Now, Eagles and most raptor birds are federally protected, and , according to FWC, you cannot do anything to them, btw this includes hawks. So we were told to not let our chickens free range, as they have been doing for 3 years.
Shooting at, or killing, an Eagle is a minimum 500$ fine and up to 6 months in jail from what I’ve been able to find out.
Our barn is open, with roosting bars and nests, so the Ladies come in and out on their own, and I’m not home to enclose it right now. We can keep the other coops closed , but she’s not sure how to keep the girls in the barn, and is afraid to leave the yard in case the Eagle comes back.
She also has one Roo hurt, can’t lift its head but alive and maybe a turkey that is injured, not sure at this time.
As she was walking out to where the donkeys were standing, since they were acting weirder than normal, they were standing over another dead hen, an eagle swooped down into the pasture . She was flabbergasted, and a little scared. By her discription , this thing could have carried off our dog, huge, with razor sharp talons and a bad attitude. She started yelling and it flew off a ways and was just circling.
She asked our neighbor if he saw anything, since she didn’t hear anything this morning and the carcasses weren’t there last night, and he said he watched it grab a “Orange chicken” and fly across the street yesterday but hadn’t seen her to let her know.
Now, Eagles and most raptor birds are federally protected, and , according to FWC, you cannot do anything to them, btw this includes hawks. So we were told to not let our chickens free range, as they have been doing for 3 years.
Shooting at, or killing, an Eagle is a minimum 500$ fine and up to 6 months in jail from what I’ve been able to find out.
Our barn is open, with roosting bars and nests, so the Ladies come in and out on their own, and I’m not home to enclose it right now. We can keep the other coops closed , but she’s not sure how to keep the girls in the barn, and is afraid to leave the yard in case the Eagle comes back.
She also has one Roo hurt, can’t lift its head but alive and maybe a turkey that is injured, not sure at this time.
