Hawk in the Chicken Pen!

[linda040899]

My daughter went out to bring in the chickens yesterday afternoon and found a small hawk on the ground (alive) next to a bunch of tan and white feathers! He took off the minute he saw her but you normally don't see hawks on the ground, especially in this particular pen which is built around a large oak tree in order to prevent exactly what my daughter found! Hawks usually fly in, grab their prey and are gone before anyone realizes what just happened!

The target bird turned out to be my daughter's bantam rooster but he got away with just missing feathers and the scare of his life. Everyone else headed for cover in the vibernum hedge at the back of the property. This is the first time we've had any kind of encounter with a hawk and we are pretty watchful! The bantams will most likely be inside for a few days, as this guy will try again given an opportunity!

[Z28Taxman]

Yikes. Good thing the chicken got away with just a haircut. :omg:

Yep, that hawk will likely be back looking for an easy dinner.

I've got a coopers hawk that hangs around my house.

[linda040899]

It rained all day today so it was a chicken "inside" day. Don't know how easy it would to have convinced them it would be OK to go out. The bantam is fine, just missing feathers. I may have to put a chicken wire cover over this particular pen.

[Maxie]

Thank goodness all the birds are ok! Poor little guys! We have ALOT of hawks around here. I try to place my bird feeders in the back yard in spots that are not exposed to the fly by hawks. Once a few years back there was a hawk eating a little sparrow on the fence. Broke my heart. I chased it away of course but unfortunately he got the little sparrow. I rearranged my feeders after that and I've been lucky since then...no hawks in the yard.

Last summer when my dad was in the hospital, I was looking out the room window and saw a hawk sitting on the lamp post eating another bird :(. I started pounding on the window to scare it away but it wouldn't budge. Of course, the nurse ran in the room to see what all the pounding was all about :omg:

I'd get the chicken wire up to be safe.

[linda040899]

Hawkes are predator birds and I understand that they need to eat to stay alive, too, but not my chickens thank you! I built the pen around the big oak tree to deter hawks from flying in, grabbing, and leaving with the catch. Hawk on the ground is very unusual and getting to where my daughter found it should not have happened. One of my other pens has a cover so this one will, too. The bantam was extremely lucky!