saved my chicken from a hawk!

[frizzleman74]

I was upstairs in my room trying on some shoes i got for christmas and all my 17 girls which are 4 months and younger were just let out to free range. This is the 1st time i have ever come inside and not supervised them after previous hawk and raccoon attacks. All of the sudden i hear squacking look out my window and see a hawk clawing my buff orpington. I jumped down my flight of stairs and sprinted outside to shew the hawk away. I was 2 ft away untill it finally gave up its catch. I thought my buff orpington was dead, it was just lying there. Then i saw it breathing and after staring at it in shock for 2 minutes, its sprung up! WOOWW! i was soo excited. I made it in time! The same thing happened last year when i heard a thump on the side of my house and found the hawk corning my chicken. I saved that one as well! I guess ive just got the ear! but im not going to get too arrogant. These chickens are NEVER free ranging without supervision again. That hawk flew down in a matter of 5 minutes of them being outside without me! I rehabilitated the buff orpington for a couple hours, and it seemed completely fine, so i released it back in the coop! thank god this has a happy ending....this time!!!

 

[goldies99]

happy you saved her!...good job!.....i checked out your page...cute how you have all the chicks in the same spot at the same age

 

[Vamvakas]

Same thing happend to me last year with my 3-4 month old Turken rooster the hawk bit his neck and I thought it had no chance of living but he lived . Untill he had some kind of sickness 3 months later (prob was Mereks, not sure)

Make sure you watch them carfully the hawk will come back.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Takes but a second! Glad you were quick on your feet. Those new shoes have anything to do with it?

 

[seminolewind]

Great!!!!

I had my first hawk attack a few months ago. I was devistated, I caught the hawk in the act but it was too late.

 

[SIMPleChick]

GOOD JOB!!!!!!! I was so scared about letting my chickens out for the day but I have a small yard. Only .17 acres.....SOoooo I didn't feel that the run that was under the coop was good enough for them to be in all day. Only to keep them in while we were away from the house, at night or when people were over and didn't like chickens! LOL! Anyway....We have a covered deck and a BIG tree that they can hide under but also enough room to where a hawk could SEE. I had NEVER seen a hawk in our suburban neighborhood before I got chickens and then immediatly after letting them run around....there are the hawks! So weird! It's like they can SMELL chickens a mile away! I just felt like I should go to the backyard one day and I looked up and a HUGE hawk was at the very tippy top of our tree! My german shepherd saw it and scared it away, I think having the dogs protect the chickens was a BIG help for us in free ranging the chickens!

 

[chickenannie1]

I am so glad you were able to stop the attack and that everyone was alright. I have never had this happen and I hope it never does. I would be devastated. I am enjoy my chickens too much!! Good job and keep up the good work!!

 

[Sassafras]

The hawks learn where the houses with chicken are for sure. It will sit and watch them and wait until they are alone. Unless you are right there they are in danger. Glad you got to your hen in time.

 

[wbruder17]

Same thing happened to me with my tiniest, most favorite Dutch Bantam. I saved her and nursed her large talon gash back to health. She is all better, but I don't let my bantams free range anymore. They have a huge pen and I just bring treats in to them if I let the big girls out. Those hawks "recon" to figure out the times we let the girls out and pinpoint the littluns. They are smart and I don't want my little girls to be targets. I think the big girls can take care of themselved better with the size hawks we get... unless the Bald Eagle comes back....

 

[theoldchick]

I had two hawks casing my coop early yesterday morning. They saw me and called angrily to each other which alerted the Black Crow Gang and the turf war was on! For over two hours they carried on in the naked oak trees. I retrieved my binoculars to watch the fray. Those feathered ninjas flipped and darted about while the hawks, who were trapped in the trees, could only jab ineffectively with their beaks.

Oddly about 20 yards away a Barred Owl watched in steadfast silence. She turned her head in the fashion only an owl can do and looked at me with her huge eyes. She closed her left eye and let it slide open only to close her right eye and let it slide open. She adjusted her beak, turned her head back toward the battle, and continued to watch in silence.

Finally the hawks took to the sky and the crows followed screaming the entire way. I went to work and the Owl went to sleep. We have a pact, her and I. I keep my chickens in the pen and she keeps the mice and snakes away.