farmerjan
Herd Master
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- Aug 16, 2016
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It sounds like you have a "chicken hawk" and although that name has been applied to red-tailed hawks, they are not true "chicken hawks". The Coopers hawk and the sharp shinned hawk are both smaller and very tenacious. They will challenge you if they have a prey in their talons on the ground.
BE AWARE.... legally..... it is against the law to kill any bird of prey. OKAY that said, and I will not come out and say that you need to "kill" this bird on an open forum...... this bird will not quit. It must be "dealt with".
Was helping my son take care of his fathers' chickens 2 years ago. Went by to lock them in one night when my son couldn't get there when his father was in the hosp after a knee replacement. The chickens were having a fit, and I hadn't turned on the lights so they wouldn't get off the roost poles and try to go back out the trap doors into the runs. These are purebred show birds and my ex is fanatical about locking them in. I saw from the flashlight that there was a bird on the floor and went into the pen to put it on the roost and realized it was not just the chicken but a chicken hawk eating the chicken, I am thinking the sharp-shinned hawk, sitting there in the semi-darkness eating this chicken. I dropped the trap door, then had to figure out what to do from there as it would be able to go over the top of the chicken wire dividers and get in with other birds in the early daylight hours. My son is 3 hrs away so no help. I finally was able to get ahold of him, found and got down a big homemade "havahart" type trap and put it in the pen and was going to try to scoot the hawk into it in the semi-darkness. Well, the hawk decided to fly up onto the chicken wire division wire, and I finally found a long broom handle that I could knock it off and as it laid stunned on the floor, I quickly picked it up (with gloves on obviously ) shoved it into the trap and dropped the trap's door. I was going to put it into a cardboard box , then realized it could get out, and then was going to put it into a show carry box for taking the show chickens to poultry show, but realized it could squeeze out the narrow openings at the top. I drug the trap outside and told my son that it was in there, outside, all the chickens were locked in for the night and it was not my problem now.
This hawk had gotten into the coop from the outside chicken run.... that is completely covered with wire to prevent any kind of animal getting into them...... by squeezing inbetween the frame of the run where there was about 3 inches space between it and the actual building. Seems it had been seen several times flying down and sitting on the top of the covered runs, watching the birds, and had finally found its way in there.
They are relentless. They will get in a spot that you would never give a second thought to. They are fast, very agile birds, both live in more "forest" tree type setting where as the red-tails will prefer more open settings.
Enough said.
BE AWARE.... legally..... it is against the law to kill any bird of prey. OKAY that said, and I will not come out and say that you need to "kill" this bird on an open forum...... this bird will not quit. It must be "dealt with".
Was helping my son take care of his fathers' chickens 2 years ago. Went by to lock them in one night when my son couldn't get there when his father was in the hosp after a knee replacement. The chickens were having a fit, and I hadn't turned on the lights so they wouldn't get off the roost poles and try to go back out the trap doors into the runs. These are purebred show birds and my ex is fanatical about locking them in. I saw from the flashlight that there was a bird on the floor and went into the pen to put it on the roost and realized it was not just the chicken but a chicken hawk eating the chicken, I am thinking the sharp-shinned hawk, sitting there in the semi-darkness eating this chicken. I dropped the trap door, then had to figure out what to do from there as it would be able to go over the top of the chicken wire dividers and get in with other birds in the early daylight hours. My son is 3 hrs away so no help. I finally was able to get ahold of him, found and got down a big homemade "havahart" type trap and put it in the pen and was going to try to scoot the hawk into it in the semi-darkness. Well, the hawk decided to fly up onto the chicken wire division wire, and I finally found a long broom handle that I could knock it off and as it laid stunned on the floor, I quickly picked it up (with gloves on obviously ) shoved it into the trap and dropped the trap's door. I was going to put it into a cardboard box , then realized it could get out, and then was going to put it into a show carry box for taking the show chickens to poultry show, but realized it could squeeze out the narrow openings at the top. I drug the trap outside and told my son that it was in there, outside, all the chickens were locked in for the night and it was not my problem now.
This hawk had gotten into the coop from the outside chicken run.... that is completely covered with wire to prevent any kind of animal getting into them...... by squeezing inbetween the frame of the run where there was about 3 inches space between it and the actual building. Seems it had been seen several times flying down and sitting on the top of the covered runs, watching the birds, and had finally found its way in there.
They are relentless. They will get in a spot that you would never give a second thought to. They are fast, very agile birds, both live in more "forest" tree type setting where as the red-tails will prefer more open settings.
Enough said.
