Pigeon Talk

[biophiliac]

I just had by far my worst hawk attack.
Today I noticed some runny green droppings so decided to give each of the 3 affected birds a 4 in 1 tablet. I find it difficult to give the birds pills by myself as I need one hand to hold the bird, one to open the beak, and one to stick the pill in, so instead I was swaddling them in a towel and releasing them onto the landing board to go in for a feed. They were headed in when a juvenile Cooper's darted out and scattered the birds. The three that were out were the cockbird in my avatar, his mate, and then the bird that was oily/soaked a few weeks ago. The hawk went after the bird in my avatar first but he flew straight through an oak tree which caused the hawk to turn for his mate. She flew headfirst into the wooden fence in my yard and hit the ground but I managed to scare the hawk off of her. It went after the two remaining birds and chased my black cockbird off into the woods while the last one took off into the sky. Neither have been back yet.

The hen who hit the fence was basically dead when I found her and I figured she had done some severe damage to herself. However she has since snapped out of it and is eating, drinking, and moving normally so maybe she got lucky.

OMG! That's horrible! I can't imagine that kind of constant pressure.
Hope the juvenile hawk fails big and learns to go after some other prey. Also hope they all get back safe.

Good god. It seems like these hawks have got your birds well in there sights. Good news the hen seems to be OK after hitting the fence. The two that are missing may come back later when it starts getting dark or first thing tomorrow morning. If they haven't been had. I'm hoping that they are quite hawk savvy now. They should be able to out fly and out manoeuvre one. The biggest risk is coming into land. You need to get this avairy built pronto. About the 4in1, why don't you get the liquid? Its far easier to administer in the drinking water and is a five day course.

X2 especially the aviary. My 4' x10' x6' tall dog kennel works great to keep the birds happy all winter when we don't fly, and keeps me from feeling guilty.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I'm building a 4x8 one to attach the loft to, I've run into some delays but ita going to be done soon.
The worst attacks happen when the hawk attacks in the yard because the birds scatter very badly. Some of them immediately take to the sky but sometimes they just circle in the yard or fly toward the trees which ends badly.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I went back out to look if anyone returned yet and caught this guy as he came barreling down out of the air and into the loft.
He seems happy to be back with his mate, and despite hitting the fence earlier she seems to have perked up a lot with him being back. Still 1 missing but I'm optimistic he'll be back considering he flew far off into the sky to escape and that he wasn't chased unlike his father.

 

[CCUK]

I went back out to look if anyone returned yet and caught this guy as he came barreling down out of the air and into the loft.
He seems happy to be back with his mate, and despite hitting the fence earlier she seems to have perked up a lot with him being back. Still 1 missing but I'm optimistic he'll be back considering he flew far off into the sky to escape and that he wasn't chased unlike his father.

That's good news. I was just looking for different repellants for hawks, have you seen these?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/192136435351
I don't know if they would scare off the pigeons too though.

 

[backyard pigeons]

I just had by far my worst hawk attack.
Today I noticed some runny green droppings so decided to give each of the 3 affected birds a 4 in 1 tablet. I find it difficult to give the birds pills by myself as I need one hand to hold the bird, one to open the beak, and one to stick the pill in, so instead I was swaddling them in a towel and releasing them onto the landing board to go in for a feed. They were headed in when a juvenile Cooper's darted out and scattered the birds. The three that were out were the cockbird in my avatar, his mate, and then the bird that was oily/soaked a few weeks ago. The hawk went after the bird in my avatar first but he flew straight through an oak tree which caused the hawk to turn for his mate. She flew headfirst into the wooden fence in my yard and hit the ground but I managed to scare the hawk off of her. It went after the two remaining birds and chased my black cockbird off into the woods while the last one took off into the sky. Neither have been back yet.

The hen who hit the fence was basically dead when I found her and I figured she had done some severe damage to herself. However she has since snapped out of it and is eating, drinking, and moving normally so maybe she got lucky.

oh my word! Your hawks are insane! I'm so sorry.

I only had one bird with the yellow tail stripes painted, it was my dark cockbird. The hawk was a juvenile and seemingly pretty desperate so it didnt seem to work. In hindsight it was stupid of me to let them go back in by themselves instead of putting them back in. It seems cruel to me to keep them locked up but it seems every time they're out they are attacked.

I agree, the paint doesn't seem to work. It was a nice thiught, but it doesn't work here. Maybe if the hawk is chasing them for awhile, and sees it.

Glad you got your one bird back! Hope the other one shows up.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Here qwerty. For giving pills\tablets.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Plastic-Ra...hash=item2396bc0cf7:m:mOCF7XeerThjOJAgJ2kvrFg I do t have any, but am going to purchase one soon.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Qwerty, could you give a large photo of your back yard? I am curious about where the hawks are coming from.

 

[CCUK]

I just got a picture of ash's youngster. It's a lot less red then Ash but has a lovely pattern over its back and has barring starting to come through.

The lighting in my living room isn't that good.

 

[CCUK]

Here qwerty. For giving pills\tablets.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Plastic-Ra...hash=item2396bc0cf7:m:mOCF7XeerThjOJAgJ2kvrFg I do t have any, but am going to purchase one soon.

That would be handy for giving vaccinations too.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I'm basically surrounded on all sides by dense foliage. The hawks tend to lurk in the woods to the left of the loft but I've seen them come from all directions, behind the fence slopes steeply down into the woods and they like to come from behind it to ambush. I've also seen them fly up and over the house to ambush them when they're on the loft.
The front yard is basically the same as the back but with even more trees. View the pictures as the first being the left side, second the center, and last the right side.