Red tails

[FlightsofFancy]

Moonman.....Do you also participate in "cock fighting"?

 

[JimnJanet]

Quote:
I think you are missunderstanding him Kelly. He loves his and all animals as much as you or I and i se nothing in him but a very dep respect for them. He is talking about the every day occurances that happen in nature each and every day that we as humans rarely get to witness. These things are a very real fact of life and we as humans(the most flawed of all God's creations i might add) have no business interfering with. I believe that moonman would never intentionaly bring harm to any living creature. He merely is talking about his fascination with each and EVERY aspect of wildlife. I am absolutely on the same page as he. Nature is in no way cruel. It survives just as we do. Only it doesn't interfere with us, it's the other way around.

 

[mooman]

Moonman.....Do you also participate in "cock fighting"?

No, but i would find a naturally occuring fight between two roosters (or two males of any species for that matter) extremely interesting and enlightning. Notice I did not say entertaining.

Jimnjanet is right, I think you are taking my post all wrong. Upon re-reading it I suppose it does sound somewhat flippant and for that I appologize, but you have to understand that not everyone shares the same ammount of emotional attachment to thier birds.

I respect all my animals and care for them as best I can. I would never intentionally harm them but, with the exception of my dog, I do not "love" them. I'm actually fonder of the chickens than I am say....my milksnake, but I would not be heartbroken if one joined the food chain while free ranging. I can think of many more traumatic (and ecologically pointless) ways for a chicken to check out (neighbor's dog for example).

I really feel that although a free ranging chickens life may be shorter than one that is kept penned, it's quality of life makes up for it. Just ask the chickens. My girls have been dive bombed by hawks a few times and some were pretty close calls. They know the risks, but they still go nuts when i come home from work and walk past the coop without letting them out to range. Have they forgoten that hawk attacks are a possibility.....no, they simply accept them as part of thier lives. As does almost every animal on the planet besides we humans.

Once again, I apologize if I offended.​

 

[FlightsofFancy]

No offense taken!

I also believe that you should never interfere with wild animals. However, our chickens are domesticated and most hatched in an incubator. That makes them our resposibity. You can love them or not. My point is that we have already interferred. My chicks are free range. I don't even lock them up at night, but I still have to protect them. Just like I would protect my 4 pound dog from the Hawks, Owls Fox and Coyote.
I guess I have had the rotten luck of experiencing alot of death first hand and let me tell you, it ain't pretty brother. It's not like a snake eating a mouse you bought at the pet store. It's pretty dissapointing after the awww and shock pass.
Best wishes to you!

 

[RobinEgg]

Quote:

In the state of KY it's illegal to harm birds of prey. Here they are unaffectionately referred to as chicken hawks. Good luck trying to convince old timers to not harm them.

 

[JimnJanet]

Quote:

In the state of KY it's illegal to harm birds of prey. Here they are unaffectionately referred to as chicken hawks. Good luck trying to convince old timers to not harm them.

Same here in Pa RobinEgg, in fact, if i'm not mistaken, redtails may be federaly protected(?)

 

[nicks chicks 1]

i may be wrong but i think all birds of prey are protected by law including scavengers like vultures, crested caracara etc.

 

[Frosty]

I think a lot depends on natural feed for the redtails, too. Every year they nest in the trees at the edge of my pasture, but I have never lost a chick, duckling, poult, kitten... anything to the redtails. But we do have lots of bunnies around here, and maybe the redtails are used to eating them and leave my critters alone? I have lost birds to owls and racoons, cats to the neighbors dogs. Losing a bird now and then to a predator that actually eats it doesn't bother me as much as a racoon going in and killing everything and leaving the pieces around. I love to watch the hawks when the farmers are harvesting... they perch there waiting for critters to run. And like I said, they eat the bunnies for me! I am not a bunny fan, they do way to much damage in the garden!

 

[seedcorn]

If you think they are bad on standard chickens, try bantams. They'll clean out a flock of bantams before you can turn around.

DNR at zoo kept saying hawks won't bother chickens. What a dufus.......Unless you consider killing/eating them not a bother, bet it is to the chicken....

 

[mooman]

I think a lot depends on natural feed for the redtails, too.

I think I may be seeing evidence of that as well. When I lived in the suburbs of Greenville (no open fields, heavily wooded back yards) the chickens got dive bombed weekly. I've been in the country for about a month now and have not witnessed a single attempt yet (knock on wood).​