Predator attacks after 2 years of peaceful chicken raising(warning GRAPHIC Photos)

[chickengeorgeto]

I agree coons and especially possums go for the guts. The first picture however basically shows that the abdomen is untouched but that the chest cavity was eaten in a rather dainty fashion for a 20 - 40 pound coon who are known as aggressive if not messy eaters. Even the right wing is still in place. Also a coon won't neatly strip most of the feathers off its prey to get at the good stuff like a hawk will.

 

[cowmommy2001]

My rooster would run away everthing EXEPT something is messing with his flock he will crow and carry on and he normal peaceful but when a hen crys HERE COMES FOG HORN LEG HORN(that is his name)

OMGOSH My cuckoo Maran rooster is SOOO Gentle but I was catching a few hens to take to a neighbor yesterday and he was NOT happy with me, thought sure he was gonna get me LOL

 

[PandoraChick]

Well we have confirmation that it is a hawk/raptor problem. After spending a bunch of time, criss-crossing fishing wire/line, hanging CDs, installing expensive owls that coo with rotating heads and playing country music from dawn till dusk, we lost another hen. This time it was my sweet girl Belle, a newly laying rhode island red hen/pullet. Yesterday, I was out with them all morning and just ran up to the house to get some watermelon...I was gone all of 5 minutes and as soon as I got close to the coop I knew something bad had happened..I found my blind buff orp roo Sam, laying in the dirt of the caged run, and all the others were in the coop....I looked over and saw the biggest hawk I have ever seen in my life(I think it was a hawk) sitting on top of my sweet Belle. I screamed as loud as I could and the massive 3 ft tall bird flew up to a tree(right through the criss-cross & cd clad wires). I was literally shaking I was so scared...So I locked everyone up in the coop, made sure Sam was ok...his legs were a little red for some reason..Not sure if he tried to help her..he can only see shadows. Of course my huge roo Thumper was sitting cozy in the coop.

So today we did not let them out in their big run or to free range..we have a 10X10 closed run attached to their coop that is completely enclosed with chicken wire and hardware cloth fencing. I di let them in that area, as I feel bad about not letting them out...They are used to wondering 2 acres that are fenced in all around with privacy fence...we have so many trees and shrubs for them to hide under, as well as sand boxes...it saddens me that I cant let them enjoy it anymore...at least right now. About 9:30 am I started heading to the coop to bring them some treats and what do I see, but this huge *** hawk sitting on top of the coop...It did not even fly away when it saw me. When I got to the coop I noticed the whole top of the attached cage had been bent in!!!! It was trying to break in the cage/coop! I started screaming and i finally flew away but hung around the yard all day. Going to get a picture/video tomorrow. At one point, it flew only a few feet above my husbands head. It was tormenting us all day. I am now scared to let my little girl outside...I have been reading and am worried it will attack us, or worse my daughter.

Not only have I lost 3 hens, I have lost my sense of security in my yard. It sucks bad. We have done everything we could think of to deter it, but now that it has had a taste, it wants them all. We hung fishing line/ropes criss cross over the entire run, hund cds, installed owls, installed a radio with music playing, and have been hanging around the coop all day. What else can we do?

 

[Beour3rd]

Almost certifiably a raptor. They peel the feathers off a chicken like you or I peel an orange and the hawk often begins feeding before the bird is dead.

The large amount of feathers in one area is a "dead" give away, no pun intended.

And if you'll look closely you can see were the hawk pulled off long strips of flesh, without ripping or dismembering the body.

yeah it it was around my place i would say this is a raptor, always see them taking out local birds and this is what they leave behing.

 

[Beour3rd]

Well we have confirmation that it is a hawk/raptor problem. After spending a bunch of time, criss-crossing fishing wire/line, hanging CDs, installing expensive owls that coo with rotating heads and playing country music from dawn till dusk, we lost another hen. This time it was my sweet girl Belle, a newly laying rhode island red hen/pullet. Yesterday, I was out with them all morning and just ran up to the house to get some watermelon...I was gone all of 5 minutes and as soon as I got close to the coop I knew something bad had happened..I found my blind buff orp roo Sam, laying in the dirt of the caged run, and all the others were in the coop....I looked over and saw the biggest hawk I have ever seen in my life(I think it was a hawk) sitting on top of my sweet Belle. I screamed as loud as I could and the massive 3 ft tall bird flew up to a tree(right through the criss-cross & cd clad wires). I was literally shaking I was so scared...So I locked everyone up in the coop, made sure Sam was ok...his legs were a little red for some reason..Not sure if he tried to help her..he can only see shadows. Of course my huge roo Thumper was sitting cozy in the coop.

So today we did not let them out in their big run or to free range..we have a 10X10 closed run attached to their coop that is completely enclosed with chicken wire and hardware cloth fencing. I di let them in that area, as I feel bad about not letting them out...They are used to wondering 2 acres that are fenced in all around with privacy fence...we have so many trees and shrubs for them to hide under, as well as sand boxes...it saddens me that I cant let them enjoy it anymore...at least right now. About 9:30 am I started heading to the coop to bring them some treats and what do I see, but this huge *** hawk sitting on top of the coop...It did not even fly away when it saw me. When I got to the coop I noticed the whole top of the attached cage had been bent in!!!! It was trying to break in the cage/coop! I started screaming and i finally flew away but hung around the yard all day. Going to get a picture/video tomorrow. At one point, it flew only a few feet above my husbands head. It was tormenting us all day. I am now scared to let my little girl outside...I have been reading and am worried it will attack us, or worse my daughter.

Not only have I lost 3 hens, I have lost my sense of security in my yard. It sucks bad. We have done everything we could think of to deter it, but now that it has had a taste, it wants them all. We hung fishing line/ropes criss cross over the entire run, hund cds, installed owls, installed a radio with music playing, and have been hanging around the coop all day. What else can we do?

something you might consider is getting a raptor "fake" the grape growers use them to scare off birds, but if you use it i know raptors have territory they claim as their own, so perhaps having a "bird" flying constantly over your yard would make the other bird go find some other hunting grounds.

you could consider killing the raptor. i know i would. just check what kind it is and if it's locally endangered before ;]

 

[Nambroth]

Killing it is illegal in the USA unless you have a permit (these are not commonly issued).

Killing it doesn't fix too much-- their ranges are huge, and they are migratory. It would be like catching a fish in the lake and then expecting no others to come around.

Your very best bet is to put up netting or fencing- a physical barrier between your birds and the hawk.This is the only thing that will for sure protect your birds.

Barring that, if you have a larger breed dog that is safe to have around the chickens, the presence of a large ground predator (dog) will often deter hawks. Hawks can not lift and fly off with a fully grown LF chicken-- even our largest hawk in the US cannot. Great Horned owls are the exception to this... but hawks have to consume at least part of their prey on the ground, and they generally won't risk this in the presence of a predator large enough to attack them (such as a larger dog).

Everything else is risky at best. I am never quite sure why owl decoys are suggested-- in my experience with raptors, owl decoys are actually more likely to attract hawks and other raptors as they attempt to drive them out of their territory. A falconer friend keeps a great horned owl and every time he puts her out in the yard he attracts hawks that come to harass her. If you can, it would probably be wise to return or sell your owl decoys as they rarely work (as you sadly experienced).

 

[Beour3rd]

Everything else is risky at best. I am never quite sure why owl decoys are suggested-- in my experience with raptors, owl decoys are actually more likely to attract hawks and other raptors as they attempt to drive them out of their territory. A falconer friend keeps a great horned owl and every time he puts her out in the yard he attracts hawks that come to harass her. If you can, it would probably be wise to return or sell your owl decoys as they rarely work (as you sadly experienced).

i did not suggest an owl. i suggested the birds grape growers use, while using them they "fly" around randomly around a 20m radius or so, these are used to scare off birds that eat grapes, however im fairly sure raptors in general have territory and once they see a raptor they would avoid that area.

this is a very poor example we had great ones on the farm but i cannot find a picture of them. they are essentially a long stainless steel bar about 1/4 inch (maybe 20 feet tall) with a line coming off of it, and it makes the raptor look like he's patrolling and acts like a kite.

 

[Veer67]

i did not suggest an owl. i suggested the birds grape growers use, while using them they "fly" around randomly around a 20m radius or so, these are used to scare off birds that eat grapes, however im fairly sure raptors in general have territory and once they see a raptor they would avoid that area.

this is a very poor example we had great ones on the farm but i cannot find a picture of them. they are essentially a long stainless steel bar about 1/4 inch (maybe 20 feet tall) with a line coming off of it, and it makes the raptor look like he's patrolling and acts like a kite.

So like this:
http://www.birdcontrolnews.com/bird-grape-battle-rolls-on/

 

[Beour3rd]

not sure how you found that but precisely those yes. and we found them to be the best bird deterrant.

 

[Beour3rd]

although ours were home made but it was like that. with pulleys to make the string lengthen and shorten to make it look real and etc. they worked wonders.