R.I.P. Lily- Hawk Attack

[PepsNick]

A few minutes ago, Lily, our BSL passed on. Oh my gosh...


The girls had flown over the fence, which I didn't think they could do... Especially Lily (who was very chunky). Well we saw a hawk in a nearby tree and quickly put the chickens up- Lily was last, and the hawk swooped, cornered her to the fence and killed her. It didn't get to eat her, though, because I threw a football at it.

Lily was originally a replacement chicken. We lost a BR to a neighbor's dog (neighbors thought they would bring their bird dog over to help feed the chickens, not the dog), so we picked up Lily. She was pretty flighty, but my best layer. Typically, have of my dozen would be of Lily's eggs.



The plan was to move my precious Delawares out today. Gonna have to build a darn safe run before that.




Nick

 

[speckledhen]

I'm really sorry about your hen, Nick. This goes to show folks who think there are no real predators in the city that there are.

 

[coloradochick]

So sorry this happened

 

[dewey]

Awww, I'm so sorry.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

I'm so sorry!

Poor Lily. Poor you!

I read in a magazine that if you have a realistic-looking scarecrow near the chickens, hawks will sometimes stay away. I've never tried it, though.

 

[PepsNick]

Thank you everyone. Cyn, I should have been more careful. We have coyotes and foxes a few neighborhoods away. Now, I don't think that they could get into our yard, though. We've seen the hawks, but I really have no excuse for this.

Gamma, I will try that. Thanks. And string some disks around.

 

[speckledhen]

Nick, don't beat yourself up too much about this. I'm just very lucky I haven't already lost a few to some predator, considering where we live. I credit my roosters for that.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

Quote:
Oh yeah, that was another trick. And I think there was one more *goes to find the magazine* Balloons can be strung to freak out the hawks. And pie tins, reflective tape... overall shiny things, which it seems you already know about.

But yeah, hawks still do come to peaceful little neighborhoods to prey on backyard poultry. I've seen quite a few hawks flying around up in the air, and sometimes they come down. One time a falcon perched on the fence right above my flock of GSL's and another time my GSL Lily (yeah, I have a Lily as well. Short for Tigerlily

) had a close attack with a huge owl at about 5:00 PM

Luckily, she dove under a thin bush right as the owl was about to grab her.

 

[<3ChickenForever]

IM SORRY!!

Could you post pics of her??

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Oh yeah, that was another trick. And I think there was one more *goes to find the magazine* Balloons can be strung to freak out the hawks. And pie tins, reflective tape... overall shiny things, which it seems you already know about.

But yeah, hawks still do come to peaceful little neighborhoods to prey on backyard poultry. I've seen quite a few hawks flying around up in the air, and sometimes they come down. One time a falcon perched on the fence right above my flock of GSL's and another time my GSL Lily (yeah, I have a Lily as well. Short for Tigerlily

) had a close attack with a huge owl at about 5:00 PM

Luckily, she dove under a thin bush right as the owl was about to grab her.

Oh, I forgot about your Lily. Username, duh!

This is what I'm thinking about using. Things like these that you hang or string across bushes and branches. http://www.birdbgone.com/products/visual-bird-deterrents/

And Cyn, thank you. You do have great roosters.