wanna know what a hawk kill looks like? *graphic*

[Ole rooster]

Sorry Kari........that is a nightmare.

 

[roxyblue]

A hawk tryed to get one of my four girls in there run on Thursday. The hawks this year are monterous beasts, it's crazy! Anyway I was fortunate that someone was home and scared the hawk of my girl. She is pretty bashed up (lots of talon marks) and the other girls were so scared that one layed an egg (the first one in months) and another got as far under a lawn mower, that had a sled on it, AND was covered my a tarp. Took me hours to find her. The one that the hawk went after was also a speckled sussex. Just today I put of A TON of mesh all over the whole 190 sq feet of the run. I hope the hawk doesn't bother you anymore

 

[exop]

Geez, I'm so sorry. Poor Snow.

Have you any idea what type of hawk it was?

 

[kari_dawn]

Thanks, guys. All I can do is keep moving forward to make life even better for my other girls...

Quote:
You know, I have noticed this too. Like I said, I think this one was very hungry...puting himself in a vulnerable position like that, and going after such a hard target (basically a hallway). In my neighborhood, alot of this has to do with the ignorance of my neighbors. I live in a heavily wooded, beautiful older neighborhood with large lots and generous homes. We have a creek running down the length of the neighborhood, and TONS of wildlife. I always see foxes, skunks, and opossums on the way home at night. Three years ago, one of my neighbors began trapping animals...all kinds, especially predators.

What do we learn in grade school? Ecosystems are a delicate balance. Upset one part, upset the whole darned thing. In this ever growing jungle of humanity, the wild ones are struggling just to hang on as it is. What happens when we remove predators? Prey animal population explosion, and anarchy. Yes, Anarchy. Once those established predators are no longer defending territories, previously inferior (usually males) animals begin mass breeding, spured on by the abundance of prey (this time of plenty also results in an explosion of the local raptor population). As all these new predators mature, they must all now fight for the very few territories available in the area, and they must eat. SO, by the course of nature, the prey population bottoms out, unable to support these new mass numbers of predators. When the prey is gone, predators begin to starve and die off. Rather than starve, they start to search out easy targets like my chickens.

Honestly, three years ago when that neighbor began trapping, I told him exactly this (predator population explosion) would happen. Of course he didn't believe me (funny how people don't believe you, even if it is a topic reguarding your profession). Actually, that was what I thought the reason was that I was seeing so many more birds of prey...generally, it takes three to four years to cycle through like this. I did not realize it was all over the metroplex though.

Therefore, in a round about way, it is TOTALLY my ignorant neighbor's fault Snow died

(okay, not really. But STILL! Not fair

)

 

[Mattemma]

She was a pretty hen.Stupid hawk.

 

[a1doll]

So sorry to hear of your loss, we lost our 12 year old dog this week then a day later a hawk got our favorite chicken! (at least we suspect a hawk as there was a hawk feather laying right next to the dead hen) So hard to loose them

Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[ChickiKat]

so sorry...

 

[melodie_a]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[epeloquin]

Really sorry, she was a beautiful girl.

We have red tailed hawks in my area too. I had the girls out the other day and we heard a hawk screech. They stopped in their tracks and were searching the skies but we didn't see it.

 

[ZombieChickens]

OHMYGOSH she was a neat bird. Sorry for you.