We lost our first chicken to a Hawk

[Runfox]

I have to say i did not see this coming. My wife told me she let the chickens out in the morning . I have them in a wooden chicken coop at night. then they walk down a ramp into a 10 x 10 dog fence area. I put some feild fence pieces on top to cover it and proctect the chickens while they are in there. The smallest opening in the field fence is only like 4' x4" so I figured that no hawk would try to get in, knowing it couldnt fly out. Well she said she heard a big comotion, went out and two hawks were there. one had got down in the fenced area and got one chicken. She went in, got the chickens to safety up in the coop, then had to open the gate to let the hawk out becasue of course it could not fly back out.

I was very proud of how brave she was to go in and chase the hawk out, all the while no waking me up as I was sleeping from working Mids. So I put a tarp over the fenced ares so not hawks can get in, they are safe now. I guess if you want to make a perfect hawk trap, put a chiken in a fence with an opening on top just big enough for it to get in but not fly out. I was surprised they would even try that , like a monkey with it's hand stuck in a jar trying to get something out, but wont let go of it to get it's hand out of the jar!!

Oh well leasson learned , hawks are smart enough to get in places , but not smart enough to know better than to try.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Wow, so sorry to hear about your loss. Our only loss of to a predator was to a hawk too.
We had just put our 6 wk old chickens in their new coop and run and a hawk reached INTO the bottom of the run THROUGH the chicken wire and tried to pull our poor Silkie out. It was not pretty.

We had seen him hanging around the coop (and snapped these photos) and were confident the girls were safe from him, all the while, we had no idea he had already taken the life of one of our chicks.
The next day we reinforced the bottom of the run with hardware cloth and have had no trouble with any predators since.

P.S. Your wife is much more brave than I would've been, good for her!!!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I am sorry for you both. so far I have not lost any chicks to a hawk as an adult. as a kid I lost plenty because they free ranged. I did however have a mouse take out 3 of my little bantam babies last year. I almost cried I was so upset. The hen kept looking at me the next day like...where are my babies you are supposed to protect us.ughhh.

 

[chauqg]

What kind of chickens do you have and how old are they? I free range 10-12 hours every day with hawks flying over head all day (have been doing it since January) and have not lost a bird. Hawks were much more daring when the birds were younger. They were eating rodent kills while sitting on the chicken tractor. The birds have lots of cover and RIR's blend in really well with leaves, trees and under growth of the woods. The birds seldom cross open meadow or grass fields. They stay in the hedge rows, they have become wary and very cautious of walking around in the open. Hope our good luck continues.

Killed marauding raccoon last Monday night. Conibear trap! DONE! Usually kill 4-5 each season. I trap them in our garden which has an 11ft fence around it. They get in, they never leave. Traps are set inside the garden and always baited.

I try to give our birds a chance by giving them good cover and safe haven like not cutting down a rose multiflora bush that is 10'high x12' around and very near the coop. The birds also hide under the coop which is 18" above ground with only one side open and it is only an opening of 10' x 10". All the birds huddle under the coop for cool, dust bathing and protection from weather and whatever else they are bothered by.

Good luck.

 

[Big Red's Mom]

What kind of Hawk is that? We have Red Tail and Red shoulder and they have never gotten a chick or chicken on our place. Mine are in a coop at night and free range when we are home. Not always outside with them. We have a pair of nesting Red shoulder hawks in the same area. No problems so far....So sorry for your losses. Great pictures of the Hawk.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Yeah, what kind of hawk is that??? I have a friend who lost some birds when a hawk went into her netted run through a 4 in. slit in the corner of the netting. She saw it and was going to fix it but never imagined a hawk would go in. She said that the hawk killed several of her 8 wk old pullets and like you she had to open the door to the run to allow the hawk out.

Hawks will keep returning to where they found easy prey. Another friend of mine said her birds were petrified of being in their run after a hawk had gotten in 5 times!!! They kept fixing it but the hawk persisted each time. By the end of the month the poor chickens were a nervous wreck and started picking on one another.

Not telling you these stories to discourage you but to illustrate how tenacious a predator the hawk is.

 

[Runfox]

Wow, great info from everyone. I am sure the hawk was a red tail hawk, we have them flying over and calling all the time. I was just surprised that they would take such a risk to get a chicken , since there was no way they could get back out. our chicks are maybe 4 weeks old, they are getting thier feathers, they still have a little fluf left.

I took care of the problem though, with the tarp on top of the run the hawks cant hardly even see the chickens and definitley cant get in to them. I know they cant get through chain link fence , the opening on chain link is maybe 2' max. I didnt know hawks were so tenacious either.

I hope when they are full grown they wont be such easy prey. I wonder would a hawk try to take on a full grown chicken that is as big or bigger than themselves??

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I have heard that they might. My mom has two big roosters and the roosters never run for cover when they see a hawk. The little bantam hen though dives into the bushes. I don't have my birds out yet. This is my first flock so I can't answer from any personal experience. I would think that they would leave a big bird alone, unless however, they are desperate. Desperation has pushed many to do things they normally wouldn't. One of these posts a woman had a hen dropped into her yard. Apparently a hawk or owl tried to fly off with it but couldn't hang onto it.

 

[Chickaholic]

I am so sorry too!!! I have hawks circling around our house too and now one of my baby chickens is missing tonight, I wonder.........???? I better get the DH to put up wire mesh on the top of our run! I didn't think that would be a problem since we have some neighbors that have chickens and the only problem I knew of so far was raccoons!

 

[Chickaholic]

Quote:
I don't get it!! It doesn't look very big!! How could it get a chicken?? I hope I am not sounding stupid but.... we have them around here too and I have never been worried until now!