*sigh* looking for a free chicken dinner and just won't leave!!!!

[PortageGirl]

WOW!! on Several levels:

1) On how patient that hawk is being, (thinking some scare tactics might be in order, though I don't like it, and I don't condone killing em either, I agree and applaud your ideas Luvmy, they eat too many things that I want gone too, but enough is enough, some discouragement may be in order.)

2) On the hawk that hit the window so hard, and

3) On that trampoline frame idea... hmmmm

I know a family that 'had' a busted trampoline... the bouncy part got destroyed, and I don't think they replaced it... hmmm, now where's that phone number?

 

[Nerdicus]

You need to convince that beauty to find plumper poultry to poach! If you had crows or Ravens that nested near your house you would not have this problem. They don't take guff from birds of prey.

My advice would be to throw rocks. Not big rocks and not hard enough to do serious harm, but after a few dozen close calls it will move on. After a week of that it will get the picture. You have to be vigilant though. As soon as comes around you get out there and toss rocks and loud insults at it.

You can also try fire crackers. It may scare your girls too, but it should scare that predator off.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Yeah.....I am going to start trying to encourage her to leave tomorrow. I USED to have a bunch of crows. Have no clue where they went but I haven't seen any in quite awhile. I actualy saw them chasing a hawk through the air during the summer. Thought that was pretty cool.

I wish I could just borrow some from soemwhere.

That is a cool idea with the trampoline frame. I know there are tons of different things that can be used if you just get creative.

 

[geareduplyn]

Looks like a young redtail to me. Why not go get a Falconry Permit. Catch it and start a whole new hobby. Flying these birds is a great experience.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

What about irritating it with a water hose...I can't imagine that it would like that.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Well, for what it's worth, my vote is for Red-Tailed Hawk, based on this photo img/smilies/tongue.png" alt="tongue" />">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Red-tailed_hawk_arp.jpg

 

[Phyll'sFarmFamily]

Reading all these posts makes me wonder if I have a redtail hawk problem too.

For 8 years I have never had a chicken taken by a predator but I have lost 2 in the past month. I hadn't seen a hawk in all this time (I think) until this fall. Now there is one that keeps sitting on the pasture fence. Of course I scare it away every time that I see it. We have a lot of crows here also so I don't think that they are scaring it away.

The first time I lost one of my girls was when I had them out to free-range. There were no feathers anywhere but she was just gone. I haven't let them out of their yard since.

Today I went to tuck them in for the night and one is missing. Again, no feathers. This happened in their yard. Their yard is about 24' by 40' in a strange shape. Their house is in the yard which is attached to the barn. The fence is at least 6' tall and about 20' from the woods.

Could a hawk swoop down, grab a chicken, and still have enough room to get out?

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I really don't lknow if they could or not, but I am really sorry you lost 2 of your chickens.

I hope you can figure out what is going on and figure out a way to prevent it.

I think my problem is gone.

I haven't seen her for a couple of days. I promised the chikens they would soon free range again but with my constant supervision for a few days.