WOW! BIGGEST HAWK ID EVER SEEEN!

[Emzyyy]

So today was the first actual nice day for a couple of weeks. My chickens are always in a run with a top on it and I haven't seen a hawk sit on the fence anymore like they used to. Well I thought its the first nice day for awhile Ill take them outside into the yard and let them free range a bit (while I watched them, oh course). Well I have 18 chickens 4 of them are standard sized birds the rest are bantams. I just don't open the fence and let them go, because I don't want them near the shed because all the junk they hide in and I can never find them. So I put 6 silkies in a cage, took them out in the yard and let them go, run really quit back to the cage and repeat. Well I was going back for all my standard sized chickens and coming out of the fence, and I see this big brown blur flying low to the ground coming right to my chickens I drop my standards I was trying to catch and come running out screaming on the top of my lungs (You know those whistler fireworks, well I can imitate them) like a indian. The hawk by this point had hit one of my silkies trying to drag it away, but when it heard me and saw me running at it like a crazy lady it dropped the white silkie it had in its claws, white fluff littering the ground, and flew off. My dog Winston comes running out of the garage barking because he hears me screaming. Well now Im not gonna let them free range with a hawk looking for every chance he has to grab at them. So my chickens don't know what has happened there all trying to hide in between my legs. So Im afraid that if I leave to put half of them up the hawk will come back and snatch at the ones I had left. So I stuffed as many birds as I could into the cage I take them out in. and held 2 in my other hand. I was carrying 14 birds across the yard, my standards were back at the coop making there "warning of danger noise", "BWAAK BWAAAK, BWAAAAAK!" Winston my dog was such a good boy he sat in the yard in the middle of mess of feathers looking for this "giant winged chicken" he just saw. So I guess I can't let them out anymore...so weird that was the first time in a month or so I let them out and in 5 minutes there was a hawk trying to get at them. I looked at the white silkies to see which one was carried up into the air but none of them showed marks? no scratches? you can't even tell if any of them have missing feathers. Maybe because they have so many feathers.

 

[Jena]

Just shows you can't let your guard down for a minute,.

Thank God you were there. Plus Winston.

Jena

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Quote:
You need to look for puncture marks. There may not be much bleeding, but there can be torn skin. If that bird had one of your chickens in the air...he had a good grip on your bird. Check all the birds and do first aid as the others here have recommended on other topics.

Good luck.

 

[Emzyyy]

Thanks, Ill do that.

 

[#1California Chick]

WOW!! Really scary!! I can just picture you trying to carry 14 chickens!! What a sight!

Cindy

 

[maine chicks]

Have you seen the PBS show-History of the Chicken? It has a scene just like you describe except getting there and grabbing the chicks. We have eagles that are a real problem along the coast when the fish are gone. I keep an air horn right by the backdoor but you always have to be on the lookout. Good luck.

 

[Chef]

I just had one of my RIR girls killed by a hawk. I let them freerange in a 50' x 100' space in my yard when I let them out. One day I went out to put them back and there was only three. I walked over to the corner of the yard to find her half eatin. At first I thought it was a cat, but then when I was out there on another day I saw the culprit. A very large hawk just passes about 20' from my head. My roo goes BAAAAAAAWK as it flies by slowly. It was big enough to kill her but not big enough to fly away with her. Now they get supervised whenever they are out.

Check this out! I was sitting here in my comp room looking out the window, and spot this huge hawk in the tree in the nieghbors yard. This tree is easily 100 yards from this window. I have the camera zoomed in almost all the way. It is directly in the center of the pic. Not easy to see but its far away.

P.S right after I wrote this I saw the hawk flying out of that same yard with something.

Chef

 

[Emzyyy]

a airhorn is a good idea then my throat won't hurt so bad afterwards

 

[ChickenBoo]

We had a friend who lost several chickens to owls. Her coop's pen was open on top allowing the owls to swoop in & snatch her chickens. She took fluorescent surveryor's ribbon (you can buy a large roll at Lowe's/Home Depot) & criss-crossed it atop her pen. The owls wouldn't fly into it. She never lost another chicken that way again. Unfortunately, an owl did swoop down & carry off one of her Jack Russell terriers.