OH help please! Hawk in the barn and wont leave!

[chicknmania]

I have a friend who is a wildlife rehabber..in fact I volunteer for her organization. I FINALLY was able to reach her and that is how we solved the problem. She came over to help and we caught the hawk five minutes after she got there to help us. It was an immature female Cooper's hawk and she said it was the biggest one she has ever seen. She will relocate it although it certainly has the option of coming back. In all the years we have had chickens I have never seen one as bold as that. I could actually poke it with a long pole; we tried bird bombs even. Nothing scared it out of the barn. Our poor flock...our peacocks were so exhausted they could not fly to roost for half an hour after the hawk was gone; one fell asleep on the ground. We still cannot account for five or six chickens including my favorite
(beta) rooster. This is also the hawk that killed my pet hen Ami by landing beside her pen and pulling her through the fence....she was disabled anyway and could not get away. I love all wildlife and anyone who knows me will say that I will be the last one to kill any predator; to deter and discourage them is and will always be our first line of defense...they are just animals after all. But I think I will pursue the kill permit for this hawk. Just in case.

 

[chicknmania]

I have a friend who is a wildlife rehabber and that is how we solved the problem. She came to help and we caught the hawk within five minutes after she got here. She will relocate the hawk tomorrow.
but it still has the option of coming back. It is an immature female Cooper's and is a very large one.
I am sure it is the hawk who killed my pet hen Ami last week by pulling her through the bars of her pen.
Ami was disabled anyway and could not get away. I had some serious depression issues over that one. And we can't find my favorite (beta) rooster. The hawk still had a full crop when we caught her
and we are thinking she might have killed again. I love all wildlife and killing predators is my last line
of defense...we always try to discourage them first. But I may continue to try and get a kill permint
for this one...in case she comes back.

Thanks everyone.

 

[chicknmania]

I have a friend who is one and that is how we caught the hawk. But I don't think she released it
far enough away. I think it is back. It (in the midst of all that trauma yesterday) apparently also
killed our very best and oldest rooster Dazzle. Prettiest and smartest rooster we have ever had...
and the fastest too. I am heartbroken to say the least.

The Feds are working with us on the kill permit and are being very cooperative. and helpful.
There is no reason not to telll them if you seriously have a problem.

 

[inputoutput]

I love wildlife and animals in general but I have had to come to terms with the possibility that bringing the chickens into my yard would inevitably attract the "visitors" I always enjoyed seeing in the past, but am now fearful of. And that I would be the one responsible for dispatching them if I had to, and I will, as it is my hard work (and food) at stake. I would not have called the feds, but that is me. A predator will stay where the prey are easy. Sometimes a scare works, sometimes you have to go further than that. Shame to put such a beautiful creature down but it has made its intentions on your property pretty clear.

 

[BrattishTaz]

Quote:
I would have handled the situation exactly as you did. Good job!

I am very sorry you lost your roo.

 

[mommissan]

Bummer. I remember a falcon that came to the wildlife rehab center where I worked. It was a pet, and was banded and equipped with a radio transmitter. It traveled from the southern Catskills all the way up to Lake Ontario in a matter of days. Unfortunately, a kill permit is the only way to resolve this. It is in the best interest for all parties. A wild animal that lacks fear of humans will likely hurt someone or something or be hurt itself. Just another thought.... a bird sanctuary might take it, but that's asking a lot.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Glad its over with. Sorry about your loss and I hope u find your others.

 

[desertdarlene]

Oh, how sad. In the first instance, I think it would have been perfectly OK to do something to sweep the hawk out of the barn. Perhaps using a broom or shaking a cloth or even catching it and taking it outside. I don't think there would have been any issue with that.

For the second issue, it's possible that this is a new hawk. Did your friend tell you that she was released? Usually, they like to keep them for a day or two for a health inspection.

 

[chicknmania]

The very next day my friend texted me to jokingly tell me "she's on her way" meaning she had released the hawk. And a few hours later our flock was hiding. I was livid as I learned from the USDA guy that my friend should have released the hawk at LEAST 50 miles away..(she released it about 5 miles away).
When I saw the flock hiding we sent up some more bird bombs and eventually saw a very large bird flying away...unconcernedly. No idea if it was the same hawk or a hawk at all...could have been a vulture and the flock would probably have reacted the same way after their horrible experience. Anyway we have been hawk free for a day and a half now. My friend is trying to put me on a guilt trip because I mentioned the kill permit! I am the last one to resort to that and I resented the way she handled the whole thing as she told me she would refuse to be involved with it any more.

I believe my beautiful Dazzle roo was not killed by the hawk as there was no signs of a struggle except a blood smear on the wall... and we never found his body at all. I think he died of heart failure or some fright related issue because of the length of time that the flock had to endure all that stress....plus the stress of the bird bombs in the barn...

and the skunk who was in the barn at the time just took advantage and ate him. I know he is dead as he would have been back by now...all the others as far as I can tell are back. Dazzle was faster than greased lightning and I know he would not have gone down without a fight. Our other rooster Popcorn put up a huge fight before the hawk killed him..it was very evident.

This hawk also visited us two days before the barn incident and killed my disabled pet pullet Ami by pulling her through the bars of her pen outside. Then sat there eating her when I was walking out to the barn until I was practically right on top of her!

Anyway I was curious about what the Feds had to say and I was relieved that they were very happy to give me information and also told me that we had more than satisfied the required efforts to deter this hawk. I hope she does not come back. They are beautiful birds.

RIP Ami Dazzle and Popcorn.

 

[Stacykins]

Thank you for actually going the lawful route and getting your wildlife rehabber friend to catch it. It seems a lot of people forget that without a permit, it is illegal to kill birds of prey