What killed my mille fleur

[Stonerowfarm]

Confirmation - it was a hawk. I just chased it away from the front of the larger coop. Unfortunately everyone is locked up until we can reinforce the oerhead covering. Unfortunately hawks are protected so we have to make it Fort Knox. No more free meals.

 

[greekbioguy]

sorry about your bird but at least now you know what you are dealing with and find a way to avoid it. how big was the hawk ?

 

[Stonerowfarm]

It was a red tail hawk, about the same size as my sex link hens. I'm thinking probably a juvenille. On Sunday while DH was starting to reinforce the run it came back and landed about 5' from where he was working. Later that afternoon the crows were active up on the ridge and then again yesterday they were all around us. Hopefully they've woken up and are going to start doing their job again. Typically we have about 10-12 crows around us that help keep the hawks at bay. We have three coops, the tractor plus on free-ranging hen (who doesn't know she's a chicken). The coops are on lock down because of the snow and ice. I'm worried about Ginger now. She usually hangs out in the barn during the day (she's a full size sex link). Hopefully the ice storm today will move it along further south.

 

[greekbioguy]

by reading all the posts about hawk attacks i am really worried. i understand that large hawks can kill birds the size of an adult chicken (around their own size) but what about falcons that are lets say twice the size of a pigeon would they dare to take on an adult bird of large size lets say ,a Brahma hen? i intend to let my chicken free in my yard for 4-5 hours every day and i can not be protecting them all the time. birds of pray in Greece at least are really scared of people (you can not get near them more than 100 meters before they fly away) will they go for pray in a yard next to a house