Scary moment

[sophiap]

Living in the suburbs I have always enjoyed resident wildlife but today as I was having my morning tea by the window and was enjoying my 4 chicks sun bathing and doing happy chicken sounds, out of nowhere a red tail hawk attacked the run and was trying to get at the chicks. I immediately raced outside yelling and the hawk took off. Two of them scraped their combs on the wire of the run but thankfully all 4 are fine. They all came up to me for help and i scooped them up and brought them in the house. The hawk stayed around for a while. I do not plan to have them for outside daytime play until I can figure out a way to cover the top of the run so that they are not so enticing to the hawk. Close call and so relieved that they are ok.

 

[Lynnae4913]

I live out in the country... cats, dogs,hawks, owls, coons, possums, fox, skunks... snakes. You name it, we have it. I wish I could free range my chickens, but I'm afraid they wouldn't last long out here. One of the hawks sits on top of the bird feeder and takes passes flying at the chicken coop. I don't know if he's hoping if he scares them enough they will find a way out so he can have dinner or what! He's done it to my rabbit cage too where I keep baby rabbits after they are weaned. I've enjoyed having the pair around to control the squirrel population and have watched them raise a number of young over the past few years. They often takes baths in one of my ponds and sit on the rails on the back deck or on the tiki torches looking for lizards. I just wish they didn't eat chicken.

 

[sumi]

I'm glad your chicks are o.k. Hawks are something else... I lost 2 chicks to them and when it came back for more my mommy hen was ready and waiting for it. She beat the daylights out of a hawk twice her size. So what started as a scary moment for me and DH turned out to be quite a bit of entertainment There is a discussion here on protecting your flock against and deterring hawks where you can get some tips:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...say-son-did-ya-see-that-hawk-after-those-hens

Good luck!

 

[DLV58]

Hi, glad all your girls are ok!
We had a hawk scare about a week ago.

 

[NorthChicken]

That is one of my fears. We live right on the river, and we have tons of bald eagles and hawks. I want to let the girls free roam, but I am so worried about the eagles and hawks. Glad your chicks are ok!

 

[AmericanMom]

Our neighbors have numerous bird feeders out and there is a hawk that gets a tweety bird near every other day, I had never seen him until a few weeks ago when our chicks hatched and he started hanging around, The chicks were protected in a covered brooder and now they are protected in an enclosed pen/run but we also have two 3 month old chicks (do you still call them chicks when they quit chirping?) and a few times we have heard the rooster call a warning and the chicks run for cover, I'm sure its the hawk he is warning them of.... I doubt it would go after them tho, they are bigger than the hawk and may face the wrath of an over protective Roo...
Like I said, I had never seen the Hawk until after the chicks hatched and were in the brooder on the porch and then we would see the hawk hanging out on the top of our neighbors shop... I told my neighbor I dont think he so much as see's them as hears them.

 

[sophiap]

Thank you Sumi, I will check out the link and will post pics once their grown up enclosure is finished. In the meantime they hang out in the family room! When I was cleaning them today they got all brave and jumped at the edge of their coop and then on the back of the sofa and were fascinated by the tv!
Yesterday's incident definitely brought the danger home and I will most certainly not have them out of their enclosure, I am however very happy to hear that they can give hawks a round for their money!best to Ll, be safe and have fun