Vultures do eat chickens! How do I keep them away?

[McChooky]

Chickens ,puppies and kittens are easy prey for a vulture. They're not above pecking a newborn calf's eyes out and eating the tongue causing it to bleed to death. Never underestimate a black vulture

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They have feet like a chicken so they can't carry prey away like a hawk or eagle does, in its talons, but conceivably could carry small prey away in their beak.

 

[McChooky]

Found out that if a vultures are hungry, they will attack and eat chickens. I've had 3 that have been eyeing my chickens. they swoop very low down but my dogs have been doing a pretty good job at keeping them away, However, my dogs aren't always outside and I'm worried that the vultures might try to take one of my chickens as I had one of my favorite chickens go missing without a trace recently (which was most likely the result of an areal predator.) How can I keep them away from my yard?

They'll keep swooping down and flying off until they wear your dog out. Chickens are known to "freeze" when terrified and won't run or put up a fight. I limit the number of hours a day my chickens are out and rarely free range without my dogs to protect them (never early in the morning)When my dogs not feeling well I keep the chickens up

 

[Bawkbok]

Controlling Nuisance Black Vultures in Missouri​

Black vultures are increasing in population and their aggressive nature can cause problems for livestock producers in Missouri. Unlike the less-aggressive turkey vulture, black vultures are known to gang up and prey on newborn livestock. They sometimes attack cows that are ill or giving birth. While they feed on dead animals, they can kill small to medium sized animals.

Black vultures leave characteristic evidence of their depredation. They can inflict damage to livestock by plucking out eyes, disemboweling, or eating tongues of newborn and sick animals.

Source: agriculture.mo.gov/blackvultures

Thank you for posting this. We always seem to have black vultures flying over head every day, often they circle low and are looking at the chickens in the yard. I am never far away when the girls are ranging, but I often wonder if I were not there if they would attempt something. With all the destruction of trees around to make way for new housing construction I guess they are looking for displaced or dead prey. I know they generally are the clean up crew of dead critters but if hungry enough, it stands to reason they would snatch easy prey.

 

[fowltemptress]

Chickens are not easy prey for black vultures. They are not built to capture something like that. The minimal risk a black vulture poses will be to newborn livestock or animals whose mobility is compromised.

 

[Bawkbok]

Chickens are not easy prey for black vultures. They are not built to capture something like that. The minimal risk a black vulture poses will be to newborn livestock or animals whose mobility is compromised.

Gotcha. Thanks

 

[Qwerty3159]

Chickens are not easy prey for black vultures. They are not built to capture something like that. The minimal risk a black vulture poses will be to newborn livestock or animals whose mobility is compromised.

Exactly. And I wouldn’t be surprised if in many of these cases with livestock if the vultures were attracted to the birth site by smell and sight simply to clean up the mess, and then decided to take advantage of an easy meal later on.

On the flip side, I wouldn’t trust black vultures around any chicks. They will definitely take live prey if it’s a bite-sized meal. They’re one of the predators that will hit baby sea turtles as they make their way to the water. But they’re not built to kill struggling prey or really any meal that requires a fight to obtain. Their compatriot, the turkey vulture, is often able to drive them away from food sites. I can’t imagine them going up to bat against an angry heifer or even a decent rooster.

Is there a lot of roadkill in the area? Someone processing a lot of animals? Anything that could be causing the vultures to repeatedly check the area for food that isn’t your chickens?

 

[AGeese]

Black Vultures are smaller than Turkey vultures and have similiar diets, but I never heard of them until this thread. We have Turkey vultures here, but I've never seen one on the ground. They're always way up in the sky crisscrossing until they pass on.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Black Vultures are smaller than Turkey vultures and have similiar diets, but I never heard of them until this thread. We have Turkey vultures here, but I've never seen one on the ground. They're always way up in the sky crisscrossing until they pass on.

If there is roadkill or carrion, you'll see them on the ground doing what they are designed to do: cleaning the meat off the bones.

 

[WingItRanch]

Here's an easy way to identify the type of vulture. Turkey vultures will stick to carrion but black vultures will hunt if they're hungry enough.

Source: https://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-killer-vultures-of-bell-county.html?m=1