WHATCHING OTHERS TAKE A HIT

[centrarchid]

Has anyone sat outside on front porch watching their birds and then see a Coopers Hawk fly over with a live young chicken (Rhode Island Red I think) in its talons in a direction where your place is between where the chicken was caught and hawk takes its eats? This same hawk flies over my place multiple times a day but does not hunt me because it is too risky. Neighbor loosing birds has fewer birds and even has them penned up most of time. I have seen similar in past with red fox dragging a big Rhode Island Red that it catches from neighbors. The latter occurred long ago but was repeated over the coarse of a summer.

 

[thomasboyle]

If a predator finds a source of food, they will keep coming until that food is gone, and then they will move on to the next source of food. which could be your chickens. If the neighbor was open to it, I would help them to predator proof their coop / run.

edited by staff

 

[centrarchid]

The neighbor in question has gone through multiple flock reboots owing to complete losses. I have kept my flock continuously. My birds are well protected using legal means. Chick, no legal options available to stop loss such as observed. Neighbor in this case seems to have it all figured out so efforts on my part are not likely to be appreciated.

 

[Judy]

From the rules:

Quote:
Killing birds of prey is against federal law, and posts that discuss doing so will be removed. If you persist in posting this, you may find your access to BYC removed.

It has been posted on BYC many times that special federal permits to kill raptors are available. It has also been posted that they are not available to chicken owners for the purpose of protecting their flocks. If you wish to apply for one and post about it, feel free to do so.

 

[CosmoTheRooster]

With killing birds of prey illegal, If I see one around my coop. I get out the air horn and scare its brains out.

 

[Triple Willow]

Today I was watching a TV program that is put on by the KY Fish and Wildlife agency. They had a question about vultures attacking and killing calves. The question was could somebody kill a vulture that was seen killing and eating a calf. The answer was no they couldn't kill the vulture at that time but that they could then apply for a federal permit to kill a protected bird.

 

[CosmoTheRooster]

Today I was watching a TV program that is put on by the KY Fish and Wildlife agency. They had a question about vultures attacking and killing calves. The question was could somebody kill a vulture that was seen killing and eating a calf. The answer was no they couldn't kill the vulture at that time but that they could then apply for a federal permit to kill a protected bird.

Very true, I have a buddy that just received his permit to shoot cormorants because they were destroying his farm ponds.

 

[centrarchid]

Pursuing a permit is not going to be an option in this case. Likely best option is simply notifying owner what predator is involved so proper response can be taken on that in such as through predator proofing confinement, providing more cover or having an animal suitable for guarding against Coopers Hawks. Same neighbor also gets hit hard by foxes each year broad spectrum approach needed.

I simply found it interesting that such observations can be made. I am outside a lot, even when on the computer yet seldom see acts of predation, much less those being acted upon someone else's flock. The most interesting part is a given predator is cherry picking through a landscape that has multiple flocks. At least two flocks are closer, one is mine, to the hawk's home base yet is directs it efforts towards someone that has only a bunch of young birds. They same hawk and one of its offspring hunt young songbirds along fencerow bordering our property yet they do not swing 50 feet south to go after my young birds.