Why would a hawk kill a chicken but not eat it?

[ackie]

That's pretty much the question.

Backstory:

Today two of my cock/rells got into it with each other. The cock instigated it, but the cockrell was handedly winning. The cockrell walked off and a hawk came down on the presumably fairly injured cock, judging by the amount of the cock's blood on the cockrell... The hawk stayed on him for a bit but the cock wasn't torn open or eaten at all. My SO thinks it just took the hawk that long to kill him and he just didnt get around to eating him? The peacocks were harassing the hawk pretty bad, so maybe he decided it wasn't worth it?

Do we think he's more likely to come back since hes still hungry or less likely if he's realized my birds aren't an easy meal?

 

[The4Walls]

"Why would a hawk kill but not eat a chicken"
Answer, because I stupidly jumped on said hawk and caught it with my bare hands before it got a chance to eat my chicken. Probably not the brightest thing to do but I reacted out of instinct when a flash zipped by my head and my chicken exploded in a ball of feathers and blood. I pounced and then realized I had a live sharp shinned hawk in my hands that could do some serious and irreparable damage to my extremities. So I did what any normal, sane person would do held on for dear life until I could stuff it into a cat carrier. Got some super heavy duty leather gloves on and took this video.

 

[bill3607]

You know there was a thread recently where some people said that hawks would kill a chicken just to shut it up because the noise they were making was interfering with the hawks hunt. I thought that was one of the funniest things I had ever heard. I mean a hawk would kill one food source to shut it up to kill a different food source. I mean everybody and everything likes chicken, right! I mean kill a chicken so you can eat a mouse! So, maybe with the fighting they were doing it teed the hawk off because they were messing up mouse or rabbit hunt.

 

[The4Walls]

@The4Walls I would delete any evidence of you harassing a predatory bird of any sort.

No Worries. Where I am they are not protected. Cant touch an eagle but these guys can be taken care of to protect my livestock. He we released. Not harassed.

 

[azygous]

One year, long ago, on New Year's day, a redtail hawk killed a Buff Brahma pullet of mine. I was shoveling snow and heard the chickens making a racket and came back to see what was going on. The hawk was sitting on a pile of firewood not five feet from the dead pullet. The pullet had a broken neck and eyes plucked out.

The hawk sat there staring at me, then languidly lifted it's wings and took off. In my case, this hawk was not local. It was migrating, so it did not return. That I know of, that is. I would fully expect if a hawk was living in the area, it would return as any predator does.

If I had left its kill instead of removing it, the hawk likely would have returned again and again to feed off of it, and that likelihood would have been greater in spring when it would have been hunting to feed hatchlings.

 

[ackie]

I ended up cleaning the bird & then deciding it sat too long to be safe to eat. BUT it's the first time I've cleaned a bird so that was a good experience. It's a little rough obviously lol.

Spoiler: pics from that

 

[ackie]

"Why would a hawk kill but not eat a chicken"
Answer, because I stupidly jumped on said hawk and caught it with my bare hands before it got a chance to eat my chicken. Probably not the brightest thing to do but I reacted out of instinct when a flash zipped by my head and my chicken exploded in a ball of feathers and blood. I pounced and then realized I had a live sharp shinned hawk in my hands that could do some serious and irreparable damage to my extremities. So I did what any normal, sane person would do held on for dear life until I could stuff it into a cat carrier. Got some super heavy duty leather gloves on and took this video.

lol mine wasn't as crazy I guess but one time my dog and my friends dog both said the food bowl was theirs and neither were used to being challenged so they stood up on their hind legs to tussle, and my first instinct was to break up the fight by getting between them. One of them bit me - didnt break skin or anything - and then the fight instantly stopped and you could see the processing of "oh no we bit a human"

 

[The4Walls]

I agree. Really hard to tell Sharp shinned from young Coopers. It may just be a Coopers, but from the brief look we got we figured it was a Sharpie. The reason we figured Sharp shinned was that they were working in a pair. I didn't think a immature Coopers hawk wold be paired up yet. Either way, both thrive in the Boreal Forest where I am in Northern Ontario. Had one here last week in the Winter at -20c. I think it was scared off by the giant tom turkey.
We also have a pair of Bald Eagles nesting in the next bay over on the lake. I am sure that one day I will lose a Muscovy. The ducks tend to march down in the morning and spend the day on the lake visiting neighbours before they come home to roost. We also have a pair of Osprey that are nesting on my bay. Not worried about them but they sure are beautiful.

 

[ackie]

You know there was a thread recently where some people said that hawks would kill a chicken just to shut it up because the noise they were making was interfering with the hawks hunt. I thought that was one of the funniest things I had ever heard. I mean a hawk would kill one food source to shut it up to kill a different food source. I mean everybody and everything likes chicken, right! I mean kill a chicken so you can eat a mouse! So, maybe with the fighting they were doing it teed the hawk off because they were messing up mouse or rabbit hunt.

okay that's hilarious

 

[ackie]

also the hawk didn't fly off when harrassed by peacocks but did fly off seemingly randomly