Very close call with a hawk today!

[Jhiggy300]

I saw a hawk eating what appeared to be a small bird in a treetop near our house yesterday. Today a hawk flew through the trees behind our house chasing doves. It made me nervous for our 8 week old chicks, but they're already a bit bigger than doves and though they're free range, stay close to our house and the cover of our back porch. Just a few moments later I was inside getting ready to leave for a few hours with my wife, when I happened to look out the window and saw a hawk flying off with one of our chicks. Luckily it only flew about 75 yards to the corner of a horse arena and landed. I immediately bolted out the front door, busting through two gates, I ran barefoot across the arena and scared the hawk off. It tried to fly away with her, but dropped her. She only had a little speck off blood on her and appears to be fine. I cannot believe how lucky I was to save her virtually unharmed.

Here's a pic of her snuggling in my daughter's hair.

 

[jtn42248]

I saw a hawk eating what appeared to be a small bird in a treetop near our house yesterday. Today a hawk flew through the trees behind our house chasing doves. It made me nervous for our 8 week old chicks, but they're already a bit bigger than doves and though they're free range, stay close to our house and the cover of our back porch. Just a few moments later I was inside getting ready to leave for a few hours with my wife, when I happened to look out the window and saw a hawk flying off with one of our chicks. Luckily it only flew about 75 yards to the corner of a horse arena and landed. I immediately bolted out the front door, busting through two gates, I ran barefoot across the arena and scared the hawk off. It tried to fly away with her, but dropped her. She only had a little speck off blood on her and appears to be fine. I cannot believe how lucky I was to save her virtually unharmed.
Here's a pic of her snuggling in my daughter's hair.

That picture is too cute, looks like a little chick with a wig on. As for hawks, remember that they are raptors protected by Federal law...you can not just run out and kill it...or if you do you much get rid of it and never tell anyone what you did.

There are a bunch of hawk solutions on BYC and a simple search will pull up dozens of them. Some work, some don't and some work sometimes and not others. Be vigilent and do the best you can to protect your chicks. Make sure they have shelter for protection from weather and predators. And, best of luck.

 

[minnehaha]

That is an amazing story!!!! How great it was that you were able to run out there and save your baby. You were running on pure adrenaline! Your bare feet would usually hurt, but you probably didn't feel a thing because of the adrenaline rush! GREAT JOB!!!!! Miss Gertrude McFuzz is one lucky little chicky!!!

I am sure that hawk will be back, he almost got one and will be looking for an easy meal again in the near future!

You should enter that picture in the next BYC contest, it's adorable!!!

 

[Jhiggy300]

Here's our first two lines of defense against the hawk that we are going to try, a "scarehawk" made with a halloween mask and our Boston Terrier/Chihuahua mix Forrest Gump. He's a natural born killer, so it's taking time to get him to not want to kill the chicks himself, but he's starting to get it. There's plenty of doves and other food sources around, so I hope it becomes discouraged and moves on, but has been hanging around all weekend. What do you guys think, will it work?