Hawk attacked Silkie bantam

[filmcmahon]

hello everyone! this morning as i was sitting at the kitchen table looking out into the backyard i noticed our free ranging silkie wasn’t caught up where the rest of the group was, which is typical for her. she was in the middle of the yard, the others in a currant berry bush. i pointed this out to my mom who was at the door about to go move her to the group. all of a sudden i see a flash of brown swoop down and the next thing i know i’m sprinting outside yelling very loud and my mom is swinging a shovel at a hawk who has grabbed our silkie. he dropped her from about a meter high and i thought she was dead for sure as she was squatting very low on the ground. very traumatic for us at you can imagine as we have only had our gals since june 3rd. our silkie is the oldest at 24 weeks and just started laying this week. the others are standard sized (except for one who has not barely grown) and they dashed for the bush and would not come out to go into the run. we got them all in and she only lost a couple feathers with no wounds at all. she is eating drinking walking fine etc. i live in southern ontario and have no clue what type of hawk tried to nab her, if it was even a hawk at all. it was tan brown and white but that’s about all i could get from it, it all happened sooo fast! i know for sure it was not a red tail so that’s crossed off the list. does anyone near this area know what type of bird this is and how i can keep it away from my gals? photos attached are of feathers lost.

 

[janiedoe]

I'm so happy that your girl is okay!
There isn't really much that discourages hawks. If you keep them in a secured run or their coop for a couple of weeks, the hawk will move on.

 

[ValerieJ]

Wow! How fortunate that you were paying attention! I'm glad she is okay!

If you want to keep your chickens safe from hawks, you will need to keep them in an enclosed run with bird netting over the top at a minimum. A solid roof would be better, of course. But, I am using the bird netting at the moment and can vouch for it's effectiveness. I didn't see what BOP came after my chickens. When I heard their alarm call I went out to check on them. Everyone was safely under shelter, and on further inspection found a hole in the netting where the BOP tried to get in. I'm sure it was surprised to be tangled in a web instead. We are working on plans for a new coop and more secure run. It will take a couple months, so meantime we are counting on the bird netting.

 

[ValerieJ]

I'm so happy that your girl is okay!
There isn't really much that discourages hawks. If you keep them in a secured run or their coop for a couple of weeks, the hawk will move on.

They never move on around here. We have owl nests, eagle nests and hawk nests. The only ones to leave in September are the young eagles, and the osprey which are not predators to chickens in this area.

 

[Diana_burns04]

A hawk killed one of my barred rocks!!
I cried!! We name was moon

 

[filmcmahon]

Wow! How fortunate that you were paying attention! I'm glad she is okay!

If you want to keep your chickens safe from hawks, you will need to keep them in an enclosed run with bird netting over the top at a minimum. A solid roof would be better, of course. But, I am using the bird netting at the moment and can vouch for it's effectiveness. I didn't see what BOP came after my chickens. When I heard their alarm call I went out to check on them. Everyone was safely under shelter, and on further inspection found a hole in the netting where the BOP tried to get in. I'm sure it was surprised to be tangled in a web instead. We are working on plans for a new coop and more secure run. It will take a couple months, so meantime we are counting on the bird netting.

yes we are very glad that she barely has a scratch on her! their run is directly attached to the coop which is kind of floating so they can go beneath it where their food and water hang. the roof is actual metal roofing and the sides have strong chicken wire on it so nothing can get in. i guess we will leave them inside for a few weeks

 

[filmcmahon]

A hawk killed one of my barred rocks!!
I cried!! We name was moon

oh nooooo!! we have two barred rocks and they are such lovely birds. i’m sorry to hear that!

 

[filmcmahon]

They never move on around here. We have owl nests, eagle nests and hawk nests. The only ones to leave in September are the young eagles, and the osprey which are not predators to chickens in this area.

oh no, are you near southern ontario? if so i will be very precautious

 

[ValerieJ]

oh no, are you near southern ontario? if so i will be very precautious

No. I'm in Washington state. But even in the states, many areas, BOPs migrate. We must have ideal conditions for them here.

 

[Going Quackers]

Darn. That was a lucky escape. Glad your silkie is okay. Yeah, as everyone says... a covered pen is about all that will stop that.

I had an owl come in and grab some calls. Fortunately, i haven;t had to much trouble with hawks, that said i have an osprey nest up the road so they tend to be the rulers of the sky here.