Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[chickenmomma16]

Over the last couple months I have noticed quite a few people losing birds to predators, esp. birds of prey. One thing kinda weird I have noticed on our own property is right when I moved in (Nov. '12) I noticed rats in the chicken coop. (our neighbors are really dirty) But lately nothing. I bet the hawks and things are hungry from traveling from their winter home...

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote:
I'm in the Echo Lake area. Not right on the lake; we have a 5-acre plot bordering a green belt. If you don't have bantams, you don't need to worry about Cooper's hawks that much. They're fairly small in terms of hawks. They can certainly grab/kill chicks, but full-grown LF should be fine. The Belgians are quite small and make a nice target. Coopers don't rely on stealth like Red Tails do. They are very fast and maneuverable. As far as they're concerned, they just need to zip in, grab the prey and zip out before the giant monster gets to them. I much prefer dealing with the Red Tails because they are not nearly so bold. During baby bird season, the crows often tell me when there's one around.

I'm sorry that you lost a bird to the coyotes. I've lost at least one (a favorite) to them. We fenced all around the property, but they can get over the fence fairly easily. I've seen one wandering around in the field and staring at my girls in their pen twice in the past four or so months. I bought a shotgun so that I can greet them properly next time they show up. Whenever the girls come out to free-range, I'm always out with them, scanning the sky and making lots of talk-noise so that predators know I'm there. They might not care that I'm there, but hopefully they do. Though I might not scare the Coopers away simply with my presence, I can still scare them away when they come out. They've wrestled with my Belgians before. My birds survived the last two of three struggles and it is my goal to remain at one loss. We're going to be putting up hawk deterrents in the next few weeks.
Echo Lake I think of as being more suburban??? than us. So are the cooper's hawk the ones that stake out bird feeders? My brother in Bonney Lake has had those, but I don't think I've seen them. Wow - they are something - how awful to need to be that vigilant overhead. are you planning aerial netting? I do have LF, so guess the cooper's won't be after them. The bald eagles are very active right now - but I thought they need a lot of clearing to come in & take off. One of the neighbors almost lost a chicken to a bald eagle - he saw it take the chicken, but thought it got dropped when the eagle crashed into a tree (they aren't very agile...) The chicken returned several days later -he was amazed - I'm amazed something else didn't get it in the interim. I think I need a shotgun & lessons (for the coyotes - not the eagles!)... We have crows, and some ravens as well that tend to 'dog' the hawks & eagles too. The chickens seem to respond to the Stellars Jays' distress calls sometimes too. Nice there's a watchful community of sorts. Need to supplement with geese, guardian dogs, donkeys & llamas. -- o & abut 640 acres! LOL

edited to fix typo

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Over the last couple months I have noticed quite a few people losing birds to predators, esp. birds of prey. One thing kinda weird I have noticed on our own property is right when I moved in (Nov. '12) I noticed rats in the chicken coop. (our neighbors are really dirty) But lately nothing. I bet the hawks and things are hungry from traveling from their winter home...

Hawks don't really go away for winter they pretty much stay in their home area.

 

[tajuano]

Over the last couple months I have noticed quite a few people losing birds to predators, esp. birds of prey. One thing kinda weird I have noticed on our own property is right when I moved in (Nov. '12) I noticed rats in the chicken coop. (our neighbors are really dirty) But lately nothing. I bet the hawks and things are hungry from traveling from their winter home...

Even when you don't see rats, they are there, trust me. We had such a big issue with those, but having rat poison constantly out help a lot. Winter time is the worst, because they are looking for a good and warm shelter, and food, that why you see more of them. But trust me they are there.

 

[chickiemomy]

HOWDEEEEEE ! ! !

What ya was at Monroe and didn't come say HI For that ya could get a But since yer new we (well at least CR) Will let ya off this time.

Hey thanks for giving me a break

- & I also didn't get any roadkill stew is it? - that's what I was really sorry for!

 

[tajuano]

Echo Lake I think of as being more suburban??? than us. So are the cooper's hawk the ones that stake out bird feeders? My brother in Bonney Lake has had those, but I don't think I've seen them. Wow - they are something - how awful to need to be that vigilant overhead. are you planning aerial netting? I do have LF, so guess the cooper's won't be after them. The bald eagles are very active right now - but I thought they need a lot of clearing to come in & take off. One of the neighbors almost lost a chicken to a bald eagle - he saw it take the chicken, but thought it got dropped when the eagle crashed into a tree (they aren't very agile...) The chicken returned several days later -he was amazed - I'm amazed something else didn't get it in the interim. I think I need a shotgun & lessons (for the coyotes - not the eagles!)... We have crows, and some ravens as well that tend to 'dog' the hawks & eagles too. The chickens seem to respond to the Stellars Jays' distress calls sometimes too. Nice there's a watchful community of sorts. Need to supplement with geese, guardian dogs, donkeys & llamas. -- o & abut 640 acres! LOL

edited to fix typo

we have a lot of bold eagles around here, but I never noticed any problems, but my chickens are in the covered run. My dad said that a couple of eagles were eyeing his chickens the other day, and they live on the city lot next to the highway, I mean his chicken coop is 10 feet away from highway. Its the time of the year, they need food for the little ones.

 

[TerrorBird]

Echo Lake I think of as being more suburban??? than us. so are the cooper's hawk the ones that stake out bird I feeders? My brother in Bonney Lake has had those, but I don't think I've seen them. Wow - they are something - how awful to need to be that vigilant overhead. are you planning aerial netting? I do have LF, so guess the cooper's won't be after them. The bald eagles are very active right now - but I thought they need a lot of clearing to come in & take off. One of the neighbors almost lost a chicken to a bald eagle - he saw it take the chicken, but thought it got dropped when the eagle crashed into a tree (they aren't very agile...) The chicken returned several days later -he was amazed - I'm amazed something else didn't get it in the interim. I think I need a shotgun & lessons... We have crows, and some ravens as well that tend to 'dog' the hawks & eagles too. The chickens seem to respond to the Stellars Jays' distress calls sometimes too. Nice there's a watchful community of sorts. Need to supplement with geese, guardian dogs, donkeys & llamas. -- o & abut 640 acres! LOL

We live at a dead end about seven minutes off of 522. Our property is pretty rural. We do feed the wild birds, which attracts the Coopers. They love catching the grosbeaks when they're in season because they're clumsy and slow. If they're very lucky, they can catch a woodpecker (not a Pileated, though!). We're going to buy a number of 11' diameter umbrella frames and have clothesline coming off of the spokes. The ends will be anchored to the ground. That'll deter the large hawks. Not so sure about the Coopers. We're going to have to get creative to beat them.

Your neighbor's bird is one lucky girl (or guy)!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: Sweet-n-Sour roadkill. If ya woulda come by we woulda hooked ya up with a plate !

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote: yep - think we have red-tails year-round - bald eagles are less visible other times of the year but I've seen them nest re-building in October, & feeding fledglings up to August/early September so if they are really gone, it's only when chicks don't hatch.

think the big difference is when the birds of prey are sitting eggs,and raising young - feed me seymor! those bald eagle babies are REALLY obnoxious.

Our wild bunny population ebbs & flows - sure it's somewhere between the coyotes & birds of prey. Wish someone would develop more of a taste for those pesky gray squirrels.

 

[tajuano]

yep - think we have red-tails year-round - bald eagles are less visible other times of the year but I've seen them nest re-building in October, & feeding fledglings up to August/early September so if they are really gone, it's only when chicks don't hatch.

think the big difference is when the birds of prey are sitting eggs,and raising young - feed me seymor! those bald eagle babies are REALLY obnoxious.

Our wild bunny population ebbs & flows - sure it's somewhere between the coyotes & birds of prey. Wish someone would develop more of a taste for those pesky gray squirrels.

Yep, or rodens, we do have quite population of those here.