Woa hawks really are hungry

[Rin]

This morning I found a dead rat in my yard, bloated, eaten up by fire ants, rolled it on its back with a stick. Was a male seems to of died of natural causes possibly in the night. No sign of what killed it so rolled it back on it's belly. Now. Mind you that was early this morning(around 8am) and now... 2:10pm my time. I went in the living room because I was cleaning house and suddenly saw a flash of something. I rush to the window to watch as a hawk flew off with the long dead, half eaten rat in the middle of a rainstorm(It's raining too, just.. btw) leaving two flies behind buzzing around baffled where the carcass just went. They must be desperate this year. That or that hawk is in for some severe disappointment. All this just a few feet from my chicken coop though. So much for free ranging them..

 

[missionarywife]

I had a hawk and black birds get 2 of my keets last year. Needless to say I am going to be very careful with my new babies.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

I wouldn't think a hawk would take away a dead rat but like you said it must be really hungry! We've had a lot of hawks around this year. One sat on my compost bin, gazing longly at my hens in their run. They were freaked out too. They knew this was not normal behavior. Wish the hawks would concentrate on my gophers rather than my hens!