Predator vs Black Chicken, Old Crow Medicine Show?

[SossFarm]

Doing some shopping at the Local Tractor Supply on Saturday and one of the "Chicken Ladies" suggested we get a couple of Black Hens. She said that Hawks, Eagles and other birds of Prey would think they were Crows, and leave the flock alone. Has anyone else had experience with this "Medicine Show"? Does it work? Or is this their attempt to sell more black chickens? I mean, I have been wanting some Barred Rocks! LOL

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I think its a myth. Birds of prey have great eyesight. They ought to be abble to tell the difference between a crow and a black chicken by appearance over great distance. The science therefore proves the hypothesis to be very suspect.

Someone once had a good experience free ranging black chickens, and there’s probably a hawk or two out there that by individual personality have been weirded out a black chicken for any number of reasons, and that’s where the myth comes from.

I don’t fault someone for hypothesizing why a particular thing happens with their flock. I do that all the time. Sometimes I get more data that ends up proving my original idea wrong. But I think the “black chicken = crow” myth is one of those hypothesis that quickly turned into an urban legend via social media.

 

[Mo_fawaazzz]

Doing some shopping at the Local Tractor Supply on Saturday and one of the "Chicken Ladies" suggested we get a couple of Black Hens. She said that Hawks, Eagles and other birds of Prey would think they were Crows, and leave the flock alone. Has anyone else had experience with this "Medicine Show"? Does it work? Or is this their attempt to sell more black chickens? I mean, I have been wanting some Barred Rocks! LOL

This definitely works with Australorps, ayam cemani, black old English game, and other chickens that have true black feathers. Barred rocks are not truly black and are terrible at escaping hawks and foxes.

If you have a lot of hawks in the area, I suggest large black Australorps. If you got foxes too, then I suggest black old English game (hard to get locally, easy to get online). English game lay few eggs and roost in trees. They fly like crows too, so foxes are not a big problem. Ayam cemanis are the true crow chickens and they are also fox proof. Australorps are not fox proof and they are somewhat hawk-proof. Coopers hawks avoid them mostly but I would worry about red-tailed hawks if you live in an open area.

If you want a bird that is both hawk-proof and fox-proof, then try guineas and peafowl. Both are amazing flyers and are really hard to catch.

 

[MysteryChicken]

None of my black chickens ever gotten snagged by birds of prey. I've had a Guinea hen get attacked, & partly eaten by an unknown Raptor. This was literally my only bird kill by a bird of prey.

 

[Mo_fawaazzz]

I think its a myth. Birds of prey have great eyesight. They ought to be abble to tell the difference between a crow and a black chicken by appearance over great distance. The science therefore proves the hypothesis to be very suspect.

Someone once had a good experience free ranging black chickens, and there’s probably a hawk or two out there that by individual personality have been weirded out a black chicken for any number of reasons, and that’s where the myth comes from.

I don’t fault someone for hypothesizing why a particular thing happens with their flock. I do that all the time. Sometimes I get more data that ends up proving my original idea wrong. But I think the “black chicken = crow” myth is one of those hypothesis that quickly turned into an urban legend via social media.

This may really depend on how used your hawks are to chickens. A flock of all-black chickens is not likely to get attacked by hawks, since chickens are not native and many hawks do not even know what they are. Their image drive can, however, notice that a large, all black bird is a crow.

However, if you have a mixed flock and a hawk has had a successful hunting attempt with your birds, adding in some black chickens will not do much. Those hawks have already memorized what their prey looks like and now can differentiate a crow and a chicken.


So the ideal option here is to get an all-black flock before your first hawk-attack, if you know that your area has hawks.

 

[Mo_fawaazzz]

None of my black chickens ever gotten snagged by birds of prey. I've had a Guinea hen get attacked, & partly eaten by an unknown Raptor. This was literally my only bird kill by a bird of prey.

A guinea getting attacked by a bird of prey?? That must be one really skilled hunter! Wild avoid martial eagles, chanting goshawks, and even caracals in their native habitat, and for most guineas, the predators of America are easy to evade. I guess predator-proof birds are never entirely predator proof. My guineas never get attacked by anything! Even my chickens got attacked but never my guineas

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I have a ton of free-range black chickens of many different types. Black Sumatra, Sumatra mixes, and some lavender Brahma mixed offspring that are a flat black color

Hawks still come here and attack, though to this day they're unable to catch any of the black chickens. Only offspring of a non-camouflaged color are vulnerable to hawks

 

[SossFarm]

I think its a myth. Birds of prey have great eyesight. They ought to be abble to tell the difference between a crow and a black chicken by appearance over great distance. The science therefore proves the hypothesis to be very suspect.

Someone once had a good experience free ranging black chickens, and there’s probably a hawk or two out there that by individual personality have been weirded out a black chicken for any number of reasons, and that’s where the myth comes from.

I don’t fault someone for hypothesizing why a particular thing happens with their flock. I do that all the time. Sometimes I get more data that ends up proving my original idea wrong. But I think the “black chicken = crow” myth is one of those hypothesis that quickly turned into an urban legend via social media.

I'm thinking you're probably right. My thoughts were that it may work for a short period, but when that hawk flies over and sees those black chickens long enough, it's going to fly in and get a closer look. To the credit of the TS Chicken Ladies.... It is a good sales tool! LOL!!! I'll probably end up going to get some barred rocks here in a couple of weeks. My Golden Comets are approaching 5 weeks now, so I'll need to add some more chicks so I'll keep a steady production stream as they age out.

Thank You for the input! I like it when someone says pretty much what I was thinking. Makes me feel like I'm not quite as dumb as my teenagers think I am!

Thank You

 

[MysteryChicken]

A guinea getting attacked by a bird of prey?? That must be one really skilled hunter! Wild avoid martial eagles, chanting goshawks, and even caracals in their native habitat, and for most guineas, the predators of America are easy to evade. I guess predator-proof birds are never entirely predator proof. My guineas never get attacked by anything! Even my chickens got attacked but never my guineas

Yep, I was surprised to have a Guinea killed by a raptor. I've got pictures of the kill.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Hawks still come here and attack, though to this day they're unable to catch any of the black chickens. Only offspring of a non-camouflaged color are vulnerable to hawks

I think you’re probably hitting right on why the myth seems to be true sometimes. Various black breeds may simply be alert and agile due to their genetics, and their black color may link to those other genes that encourage wildness, or may simply be present by coincidence.

I am also aware of an experiment done by an American biologist decades ago where he created a feral “woods” chicken in the river bottoms of the Savanah River by allowing barnyard bantam breeds to cross with red junglefowl hybrids and then letting natural selection cull anything that couldn’t live on its own. The result was a mostly black bird. It is my experience that mottled black blends into North American Southern, hardwood-bottom habitat better than the red junglefowl’s natural partridge color. I’ve turned black bantams loose in my own swamp hardwood habitat and they become invisible when they don’t move and have some overhead underbrush breaking up their outline.

Black chickens may simply be of genetic stocks of breeds that are better free range survivors.