!!Scared of Vultures!!

[ChickyMomm]

Hello everyone! This is kind of an emergency so I'm trying to make it quick. I live in Eastern Massachusetts and I just looked out the window to find something scary. A Turkey Vulture was just strolling through my back yard and all I could do was stare at it. What my main question is, will this bird of prey hurt my precious flock? We don't have a Rooster, so there is no guaranteed protection for my girls. Do you guys know if Turkey Vultures attack chickens, and if so, how should I expect them to attack? Will they swoop down like a hawk and carry a hen off?

 

[MeepBeep]

Turkey vultures are not birds of prey, they are almost exclusively scavengers...

So unless your chickens are a freshly dead carcass laying in your yard you have little to worry about...

 

[roosterhavoc]

Turkey vultures will sometimes kill very small chicks but no full grown birds. I have an absolute ton of them around here. My chickens don't even flinch when one flies by. They have learned the difference between them and hawks.

 

[Papas Chickens]

Turkey Vultures are possibly the commonest raptor in the americas and prefer to scavenge but will take small animals such as baby chicks, rodents, reptiles, ect. if they get a opportunity to do so. They will swoop down on them and use there tallons and there mass to pin there prey to the ground and dispatch them with there beaks.