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

[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.

 

[cmom]

"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.

That's quite the video. It's hard to tell the difference between an immature sharp shinned hawk and an immature cooper's hawk. I have had hawks kill some of my birds in the past but they never ate them. On the immature hawks from my observations, the streaks on the chests are blurry on a sharp shinned hawk and crisp streaks on a cooper's hawk, otherwise they look pretty much the same. But because the eyes are a pretty bright yellow I think you have an immature Cooper's hawk. That is another feature. On a sharp shinned hawk the eyes aren't as bright yellow. Just my opinion. There are many on here that know far more than I do. Good luck...

 

[TARDIS37379]

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

You do not need a federal depredation permit to simply harass or scare birds (except eagles and federally listed threatened or endangered
species), provided (a) birds are not killed or injured and (b) birds sitting on active nests (nests with eggs or chicks present) are not disturbed to the point that it causes the eggs to not hatch or the chicks to die or become injured.
When you apply for the permit, it asks what methods you have used to scare the birds away.

 

[MarkJr]

You do not need a federal depredation permit to simply harass or scare birds (except eagles and federally listed threatened or endangered
species), provided (a) birds are not killed or injured and (b) birds sitting on active nests (nests with eggs or chicks present) are not disturbed to the point that it causes the eggs to not hatch or the chicks to die or become injured.
When you apply for the permit, it asks what methods you have used to scare the birds away.

When you have no evidence, questions don't arise. Moot anyhow since OP doesn't need to follow US guidelines.

 

[ackie]

the question is...

what do I do about the hawk here, in the US where I cant do anything LOL

lm not letting my birds free range this week but I know that doesn't really fix anything

 

[hennanny]

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

Bull! it's not against the law ..well maybe in Oregon pfft.. to protect your livestock and thats here in Mo

 

[hennanny]

the question is...

what do I do about the hawk here, in the US where I cant do anything LOL

lm not letting my birds free range this week but I know that doesn't really fix anything

ask your local game warden about protecting livestock

 

[bill3607]

the question is...

what do I do about the hawk here, in the US where I cant do anything LOL

lm not letting my birds free range this week but I know that doesn't really fix anything

You are allowed to protect your live stock.

 

[cmom]

Can you shoot a hawk if it is attacking chickens? In order to shoot a hawk, you will need to obtain a permit called the Federal Migratory Bird Depredation Permit. Hawks are protected in the United states under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (16 USC, 703-711). You can shoot or kill a hawk only if you have a special permit from Wildlife Services. Additionally, shooting is authorized only in specific situations that involve public health and safety. Along with a permit, there are rules that you will have to adhere to before attempting to shoot a hawk. As a nuisance (birds of prey) such as hawks are to poultry keepers, they can not be killed, trapped, or caged, even if they wipe out your flock, without a special permit.
https://www.fws.gov/forms/3-200-13.pdf

 

[cmom]

I used to free range but not anymore due to aerial as well as ground predators. I made nice large covered pens for my birds. I don't even shut the pop doors in the coops at night but I have a lot of protections and no breaches. I realize this is not for everyone but I was tired of loosing birds to predators. I put electric wires around my coops and pens, concrete under the gates and good heavy duty netting covering all of the pens. I can sleep at night when most of the predators roam here. I also have several game cameras and see predators on my cameras mostly at night when they roam.