question about hawks

[dandydoodle]

My chickens are bantam size. We had a hawk swoop down after them. Thank goodness everyone is okay they all ran into the coop.It seems like my chickens were as big or maybe bigger then the hawk. My chickens are bantam size. So my question is do hawks take chickens bigger then them or was it swooping down hoping to find a young or smaller chicken.?Will it take a chicken that is as big as it? Just curious how much I need to worry about our swooping hawk.

Thanks,

 

[deerman]

Yes they will take bantam, even larger chicken, Cooper hawk(common chicken hawk) have been scare away with some large roosters, my pet goose would also run them off

 

[Nicole01]

Oh yes! Hawks will take chickens 2-3 times more their size. I have hawks around too and I'm not letting my girls out to free range until they are gone.

 

[chickensioux]

Yes, I have lost standard chickens to hawks. Keeping them totally covered is the only guarantee against hawks. And there is nothing you can do legally to the hawk, they are protected.

 

[dandydoodle]

How do you get rid of them???

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[lichick28]

We dont leave our two chihuahua's (3 lbs & 5 lbs) in the yard alone because a hawk swooped down & took an 7 lb chicken

 

[dandydoodle]

How in the world could they carry something like that and fly at the same time???? I just don't get it. It was smaller then all of my chickens. Heck how can they eat something that big. Can't the chickens just run away when they land? Of course I believe everyone it just seems so hard to comprehend. So after you see one swoop will it remember where is saw the chickens and come back?

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I have a young red tail stealing my chickens. He sits right on the edge of the yard and eats them on the ground. The last chicken he grabbed was a LF orpington cockerel. I haven't figured out how to get rid of him yet. I've tried mylar balloons, he ignored them. I've chased him off a few times, he just comes back. I wish I had advise for you. I think all you can do is keep them in a covered run until the hawk realizes there is no food there and moves on.

 

[lichick28]

The swoop instantly kills the chicken. The one that took my chicken flew off with it. YES they come back for more.

 

[stoopid]

One month I lost 25 bantams to the hawks. They don't care about size.... If it's too big, they will just attack and drop it, and you have to deal with cleaning up the mess, hoping it will recover...
I was missing one of my teenage LF pullets, darn hawk couldn't carry it up into the tree, so I found her body... in between the fence boards... hanging by her ankle... upside down... skeleton. UGH that was horrible.