Turkey Vultures?

[dacjohns]

Turkey vultures and black vultures are scavengers. They are sometimes incorrectly buzzards. I wouldn't think you would have a problem with them and your chickens.


Chickeroo said
"I'm in VA and we used to have tons of them that roosted in the pine trees behind our house. They'd all fly in, right over our yard, in the evening. It was scary and kind of cool at the same time. They never bothered anything, chickens or otherwise. Although, I've heard people in some other areas of VA say that they were destroying things, like pulling the windshield wipers off cars, picking at things on people's houses, etc."

Ravens and condors have been know to get into peoples things, especially at Grand Canyon. I'm sure there are not condors in VA, not sure about ravens. Crows are also inquisitive.

Eggseronious said
"but years ago some farmers that had hogs that run outside said they would get newborn pigs if their food supply run short."

Maybe but doubtful.

Think of the vultures as big Turkens.

 

[gypsygirl1421]

Yes, Black vultures love to eat rubber. Winshield wipers and roofing get pulled up and torn up a lot. It is one of the main reasons we get calls in out office to disperse vulture roosts or haze them from an area. This is thought to be a behavior they learn when they watch others doing it.

Yes, Black vultures will eat young pigs, sheep, and calves. They will work together and peck out their eyes first and then countinue to inflict damage until the young livestock is dead. IT is the number 2 complaint in our southern offices regarding vultures.

Turkey vultures usually don't inflict as much damage. Turkey vultures are large and have a longer wingspan. Black vultures have a black face (turkey v's have a red face) and a shorter wingspan and will flap more often then TV's.

Vultures also learn to watch farm machinery to catch the fallout if they happen to run over rabbits, fawns, ground nesting birds etc.

Check out the National Wildlife Research Center for more info on vultures.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Interesting. Thank you.

 

[lovethechickens]

Oh gosh...this is hard for me to write. Well,,,,, I was on vacation in West Texas in a town called Vanderpool. My sister was driving her car and my other sister was in the front seat, and my wife and I were in the back seat. Were all laughing and cutting up, and all the sudden my sister(driving)slams on the brakes, and screams! We are totally stopped and shes in total panic! I think she may have something painful going on, and cant figure it out, until my other sister opened her door. All of the sudden the car is engulfed with the most fowl smelling aroma I have ever smelled. My sister is laughing now, because she sees my gag reflex coming on strong. I shoot my head out the door and puke my guts out. Over and over. Just when I think Im done, I smell this smell and puke and dry heave some more. My other sister starts puking too! So my other sister (driver) says get in, and she drives off a bit. What happened was she drove past some vultures, and they puked up this roadkill (deer) all over her window. Evidently they do this as a defensive mechanism. So anyways, she drive about a 1/4 of a mile and opens the door and cleans the window and she left the door open and accidently got a couple of chunks of meat in the car. Again I puked and puked and puked. We finally got to the river and got to swim, but I was just not in such a great mood!!! Nasty animals they are!!!!!!!!! (I dont think they eat live animals though)

 

[gypsygirl1421]

Yes, Lucky you. That is a vultures first line of defense. They can forcefully reguritate their last meal at a target up to 5 feet away. And if there last meal was a deer that has been baking in the hot sun for the last week and full of maggots (added bonus for Mr. Vulture) so much the better!

 

[chicken_angler]

If you have lots of woods in the area, you should be alright. Vultures are scared of Coyotes and foxes. They will fly around, but will not get your chickens. Good luck.


-Chickenman8

 

[MrsChickendad]

We have a large flock of turkey vultures that commute from a landfill to the woods at the back of our property. Every evening they come sailing in and are pretty cool to watch. In the morning they perch on the top of the neighbor's steel roofed barn and warm up their wings. It looks really spooky to see the ridge of that barn with all the vultures "hanging out".

I understand the reason for the naked head is to keep their heads clean when they eat carrion. Function over form in this case! I'd hate to have to clean up all the roadkill they eat (think 3 day old flattened skunk)!!

 

[chickeepoo]

Yeah, they do a job nobody else would want to… we have to be grateful for that. But I've had to clean the nasty, green/hairy SPLAT dropping when they flew over my car after eating their roadkill- THAT was gross. I had to stand back quite a ways with the power hose and follow with bleach water. They are cool to see roosting in the evening in the dead trees- maybe even a little erie… or intimidating. I just make sure I don't lie down anywhere near them LOL.