Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[angiert]

i have a blue swedish duck.....poor thing was almost killed by heat exhaustion as a duckling......then as a juvenile she was attacked by an owl, which took us weeks to get her back to health....then a couple of months ago the neighbors dog came and drug her off and thank heavens my husband stole her back......she has had the hardest time but she still is the happiest little duck ever

 

[AnonAMauze]

I have to say that, in my recent experience, a bear is the worst. Not only will it kill and eat your chickens, it will also destroy your run, coop, roost, what have you, in order to get to your chickens. I began the summer with 12 chicks (1 RIR, 5 Americana, and 6 Buff Orpington) that did very well (for me being a first time chicken-raiser). I lost one to a dog who pulled a chick straight through the 2" hex fencing, and another that I lost because his jaw was broken and his crooked beak didn't allow him to eat properly. When my chicks were 7-8 weeks old and outside in the run I picked up a Black-tailed White Japanese bantam roo to take care of them. Then for weeks on weeks I had no problems at all, even though I kept expecting a mountain lion or a hawk to get one or two. Well, when my chicks reached about 4 months of age we found an ad about someone giving away 6 Buff Orpington hens, so we brought those home and again had no troubles, although it took a while for the two flocks to integrate. Then, just when my new hens were getting over the stress of moving and giving me eggs ... along comes a bear who eats most of my chickens, and one of my two turkeys, tears down the fence in THREE places to get to them, leaves a half dozen torn up bodies to deal with and leaves me with five chickens almost to scared to catch.

So. I had one turkey, four pullets, and my bantam roo left.

And then about a week later, the bear comes back, kills three of my pullets and the remaining turkey.

I am now left with one Americana pullet and my bantam roo (the LUCKY brat), which after all this trouble of the bear going through the fences, I have decided to allow to roam free. They roost on the porch rafters.

So, if you live anywhere where a bear might come visiting, make sure your runs and coops are well-built.

 

[chickortreat]

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[Time-Out]

Sorry. I'll have to get some specs

 

[semillion2]

I just lost my hen to a Hawk. It is heart breaking to lost another Chicken. I have lost one Rooster and two hens in month. I have Cooped up the rest of the three hens and Rooster today. "How long should I coop them up before the Hawk loses interest?" I have three baby pullets coming in October. I will miss my Pete she was a sweetheart, she use to look after the younger hens.

 

[chickortreat]

Post deleted because some folks can't handle normal conversation.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Two days ago, I saw no less than 50 hawks in one migratory group. For those who think them "endangered", I disagree. I would assist the hawk in losing interest.

I was roofing my dad's house yesterday, when a stray cat crossed the yard. I told my dad I'd probably have to shoot it that evening. Sure enough, when I went out to shut the chickens in last night, that cat ran out of the coop. I shot her before she got out of the pen. I then went and reloaded the rifle in preparation for the onslaught of cats that will take that one's place, according to popular belief. I'm a waitin'....

OK, then I have 50 extremely rare (According Fish and Game) golden bellied squirrels around my house.
They keep chewing on my coop, and annoying.
I'm gonna shoot them, because, their OBVIOUSLY not rare, duh. Just because they live practically no where else, they don't SEEM rare, so, I'm gonna shoot them.


Yup, basically what you just said. Plus, what type of hawks? Just because you saw 50, doesn't mean their all the same breed, or even a rare one.
(P.S. sorry if the 1st part sounded mean, I just wanted to get my point across

)

 

[zazouse]

I have seen them by the 100's fly right over my place, they were off their normal migration path due to a hurrican we had messed up their path.


I was standing with my birds when i took these photos, we were all freaked out

 

[K-12 Chickens]

Wow! I've never seen such a large kettle of hawks! Mostly looks like Broad-Winged Hawks, the most common one seen in such large migrating kettles. I wouldn't worry about them too much though. They're migrating and are in complete view to other prey, so they'll probably not bother hunting.

 

[zazouse]

You are correct, and i wasn't so worried about them till the local hawks came and started hoveing over my place under them, my birds were hiding so everyone was safe.