Three Chickens Gone Without a Trace..... theft?

[All4Eggz]

@centrarchid can probably discuss how a "flock of hawks" is highly unlikely as they do not generally travel in groups even when migrating.

Hm.
I have seen otherwise.. multiple times.

Every time I see a hawk, I am almost certain to see one or more. Not sure if it's the area we live in, but hawks are almost always traveling in groups, especially when hovering over our chickens.

I'm curious! @centrarchid, can you explain please?

 

[Birdsonghill]

I often can spot more than one hawk at a time over my fields. But they usually are no more than two in close proximity to each other. Buzzards, on the other hand may be in the dozens over my place and have been known to light on my roof peak and rest a while! This white oak tree pictured full of buzzards is about 100 feet from my house. I have a picture of them lined up along my roof line, but it is not currently downloaded to my computer. A pair of American Kestrels(sparrow hawks) or Red Tailed Hawks hunting together is common in the spring time through early summer and later I may see them joined by a juvenile bird or two. I also see Falcons, Marsh Hawks, Rufous Tailed Hawks, Mississippi Kites and more. An occasional Bald Eagle may fly over ,coming and going from nearby wetland areas. Screech owls live in that oak tree pictured and nearby ones as well as other larger species of owls. A buzzard usually does not go after fast moving critters, but I have heard reports of them doing so and snatching a chicken from old timers. They clean up after the cars, coyotes, fox , big cats and hunters around here. They also work the stillborn/ afterbirth from herds of cattle and flocks of sheep.

 

[WestTNriverrat]

I would think the pea fowl would alert to a person trying to steal chickens. I can’t imagine a person crafty enough to catch three chickens without at least a small ruckus. I’m no expert on pew fowl, but when i was a kid the farmer up the road had them and they always hollered at us when we would cut through their pasture after school. I figure a predator is the culprit but as to what kind I haven’t a clue.

As to the birds of prey flocking while not impossible it’s highly unlikely unless it is family with juveniles.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I would think the pea fowl would alert to a person trying to steal chickens. I can’t imagine a person crafty enough to catch three chickens without at least a small ruckus. I’m no expert on pew fowl, but when i was a kid the farmer up the road had them and they always hollered at us when we would cut through their pasture after school. I figure a predator is the culprit but as to what kind I haven’t a clue.

As to the birds of prey flocking while not impossible it’s highly unlikely unless it is family with juveniles.

BTW, WestTnriverrat, I am a West Tn. river rat myself! My mother was from the hills of East Tennessee, but I am born and raised a "low lander" and grew up on the Mississippi river, fishing and hunting all along the big river and it's tributaries from the Mississippi delta to Fulton Ky. mostly. My dad worked for the corps of engineers at one time and we knew and used the river and the islands on both sides from Cairo to Natchez. He was a corps survey party member in the pre world war two years and avid hunter and fisherman, all his life. We especially hunted coons and quail, his passions, mostly because we loved the dogs! Catfishing and Striper fishing were once also passions, for the both of us, and the river was a great place for adventures.

 

[WestTNriverrat]

BTW, WestTnriverrat, I am a West Tn. river rat myself! My mother was from the hills of East Tennessee, but I am born and raised a "low lander" and grew up on the Mississippi river, fishing and hunting all along the big river and it's tributaries from the Mississippi delta to Fulton Ky. mostly. My dad worked for the corps of engineers at one time and we knew and used the river and the islands on both sides from Cairo to Natchez. He was a corps survey party member in the pre world war two years and avid hunter and fisherman, all his life. We especially hunted coons and quail, his passions, mostly because we loved the dogs! Catfishing and Striper fishing were once also passions, for the both of us, and the river was a great place for adventures.

Grew up in Savannah Tn. I love me some striped bass. My mother and step father own a couple islands in the TN river. Have 2 grand night champion red tick English coonhounds. Wouldn’t trade that kind of living for anything.

 

[McChooky]

Most birds of prey can't carry a a heavy bird a long distance. They'll kill and pluck its feathers before ripping it in pieces to eat and/or carry back to their nest in pieces(making several trips) This is more than likely the work of a ground predator such as coyotes or foxes.

 

[-Kiwi-]

Hm.
I have seen otherwise.. multiple times.

Every time I see a hawk, I am almost certain to see one or more. Not sure if it's the area we live in, but hawks are almost always traveling in groups, especially when hovering over our chickens.

I'm curious! @centrarchid, can you explain please?

I haven't ever seen a flock of hawks, except for one time. My grandparents were irrigating their field and hawks of all kinds were flying down and hunting the mice that wererunning from the water. It was a really amazing experience. You could just hear all these hawks from different species calling and flying loops around the field.

I would think the pea fowl would alert to a person trying to steal chickens. I can’t imagine a person crafty enough to catch three chickens without at least a small ruckus. I’m no expert on pew fowl, but when i was a kid the farmer up the road had them and they always hollered at us when we would cut through their pasture after school. I figure a predator is the culprit but as to what kind I haven’t a clue.

As to the birds of prey flocking while not impossible it’s highly unlikely unless it is family with juveniles.

I don't think they would since the peas were raised around people. They never alarm for strangers on our property when family is visiting or something. My chickens are also very tame and most of them will let you pick them up without a problem which is the reason I'm wondering if someone could've gone into the yard and taken them, since the car was gone, the house seemed empty, the peafowl don't alarm and the chickens are tame.

If it's a ground predator I'm thinking more along the lines of coyote becuase I've had problems with coyotes digging under my fence and we don't have foxes in my area as far as I know.

 

[-Kiwi-]

I often can spot more than one hawk at a time over my fields. But they usually are no more than two in close proximity to each other. Buzzards, on the other hand may be in the dozens over my place and have been known to light on my roof peak and rest a while! This white oak tree pictured full of buzzards is about 100 feet from my house. I have a picture of them lined up along my roof line, but it is not currently downloaded to my computer. A pair of American Kestrels(sparrow hawks) or Red Tailed Hawks hunting together is common in the spring time through early summer and later I may see them joined by a juvenile bird or two. I also see Falcons, Marsh Hawks, Rufous Tailed Hawks, Mississippi Kites and more. An occasional Bald Eagle may fly over ,coming and going from nearby wetland areas. Screech owls live in that oak tree pictured and nearby ones as well as other larger species of owls. A buzzard usually does not go after fast moving critters, but I have heard reports of them doing so and snatching a chicken from old timers. They clean up after the cars, coyotes, fox , big cats and hunters around here. They also work the stillborn/ afterbirth from herds of cattle and flocks of sheep.

Occasionally when something dies I carry it over to the tree where we bury them, but sometimes I can't get around to it right away. Sometimes I'll come home and something will have eaten all the flesh from the dead bird, so I'm assuming turkey vultures come down and eat it or something.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I know this is an old thread now but new readers and old readers, I have for years fed my dead livestock, including chickens to the vultures on top of a hill behind my house in an opening in my now brushy ex pasture. They will clean up a large animal like a full grown sheep in a week! Within two or three days most is gone. Chickens in a day. The fox and coyotes, etc. drag off the remaining bones, the rodents eat on them and within a couple of weeks little or no trace remains there. Never time for problems from flies or odors, drifting far. My closest neighbors home is only about 400 feet away and they never have a clue or a complaint about the process. My house is about the same distance. Vultures hang around here in my larger oak trees because of that most likely.