What birds of prey attack chickens in Australia?

[appps]

We recently lost a fully grown bantam frizzle to a small goshawk. Hubby walked out just as it had happened and scared it up into a tree but it was too late for our chicken. We are in suburbia (five minutes from the city centre ) and have always given them plenty of free range area in the back garden and on the lawn. After this they are now only getting supervised free range time when I sit with them with my cuppa

Years ago we lost our first flock to a fox when we forgot to lock their house one night so don't discount those if you live in town. As a kid foxes killed a few flocks of my parents too, my parents are more semi rural.

 

[James9222]

We recently lost a fully grown bantam frizzle to a small goshawk. Hubby walked out just as it had happened and scared it up into a tree but it was too late for our chicken. We are in suburbia (five minutes from the city centre ) and have always given them plenty of free range area in the back garden and on the lawn. After this they are now only getting supervised free range time when I sit with them with my cuppa

Years ago we lost our first flock to a fox when we forgot to lock their house one night so don't discount those if you live in town. As a kid foxes killed a few flocks of my parents too, my parents are more semi rural.

It's always frustrating when one get's taken. I now am in a rural area which afford's me the opportunity to use a firearm to remove only pests. I didn't realize landowners were required to by law to actively remove them (introduced species only). I have had foxes attack my chickens and even seen a Koala being stalked. I am a full time body guard for my girls

. Maybe only bantam sized hens are harassed by magpies etc,

 

[James9222]

Yeah I wasn't expecting that from a magpie at all

there is heaps around my area but they never usually hang out on my side of the street as there is big old trees everywhere else for them to nest, never had issues with them yet past 7 years I have to walk through them 4 times a day swear there is like 20 between my house and the school. My chickens are scared and hide from them and look to me to shoo them off now

I don't chase them I just walk calmly towards them until they bugger off but it's starting to make me worried that they will attack me when I'm walking through their territory now

I wouldn't be phased about them being here at all if I wasn't worried about them attacking the chickens! Hopefully it was a one off I was hoping that it just seen my girl as another small black bird and assumed it was a stranger magpie in their area? They are not stupid though, would think that they could easily tell the difference

no nest anywhere near my yard but there would be more than one like 100-200metres away for sure, definitely would be across the road in the park? They do like to come over and scratch my yard for bugs and stuff just usually only do it in the front lawn

Despite your chickens being afraid (which is in hindsight probably a good thing) they will eventually in my experience get back out there and just run when they see anything. The magpies could just be seeing your hens as a competitor for food especially if it is breeding season. You're right in saying they are smart lol. You may just have to chalk it up to experience for the chickens and hope they learn as you said they are, even if they look to you as the rooster now haha.

 

[appps]

It's always frustrating when one get's taken. I now am in a rural area which afford's me the opportunity to use a firearm to remove only pests. I didn't realize landowners were required to by law to actively remove them (introduced species only). I have had foxes attack my chickens and even seen a Koala being stalked. I am a full time body guard for my girls

. Maybe only bantam sized hens are harassed by magpies etc,

Yeah Im not sure what is going on with the magpie bit. Ive had bantams and a runt of a silkie so quite small exist quite happily with the magpies. We actually had 13 living at our place during the day at one stage and none of them showed the slightest interest in the chickens.

I have found if you feed and are friendly to your magpies they never swoop you, I wonder if they thought our chickens were part of our human 'flock' and so off limits. They are good to have around, along with peewees as an early warning system for hawks.

 

[James9222]

Well crap! No issue on the magpies here but a python got into the 13 week old chicks coop and killed two hens out of six. I only found out it wasn't a disease when at 7pm the snake was back for more. I must say an 8 foot snake isn't fun to wrestle :/. We chicken owners go through a lot to keep them safe

 

[mamabokbok]

Quote:
OMG?! How did you get rid of the snake??

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Quick google search shows you have Goshawk and Harriers. The 19 other falcons, kites and eagles are either too small or fish oriented. So there are 4 to look out for, two types of Goshawk and two Harrier.

 

[CluckerFeet]

A bird you have to watch out for is the bush or brush turkey (not a bird of prey I know) - they absolutely love chicken feed!

Bush turkeys are usually shy but can become aggressive when they have a food source shared with other birds. I used to let the turkeys visit my yard as they didn't seem to be a threat to my hens. The chooks would even chase them away sometimes! Unfortunately an especially nasty turkey came to visit one day while one of my chooks was down by the coop (where the feed is). That turkey chased the hen into the coop where she had no escape, and continued to peck and attack her until one of my family members saw and chased the turkey away. Chile, my chicken, was able to recover quickly, as the turkey was stopped before any real damage could be done. But she was very lucky.

I've seen a pair of bush turkeys working together to get some magpie chicks from a nest (which is basically a suicide mission with the magpies in my area). One distracted the magpies while the other went up to the nest.

You just have to keep an eye on your chooks at all times. If a turkey does turn up you should definitely chase it away. Even if they don't try attacking your chooks, you don't want them moving in and turning your garden into a compost mound.


Another bird that could be a threat are powerful owls. I've never heard of one attacking a chicken, but if a chook does get stuck outside the coop one night I wouldn't be surprised if a powerful owl decided to turn it into a snack - bantams and smaller chickens especially. Powerful owls are massive and their favourite food is a ringtail possum.


Here's a pic of a bush turkey for reference. They're a fair bit bigger than a chicken but still a pretty clumsy flyer.

 

[mamabokbok]

Gosh I've never seen a wild turkey before, I wonder where you are located? I've just been chasing away any wild birds I see

except for parrots.. I've moved house and there are Crows and Minor birds around but they seem to stay away for the most part since I scare them any time they come and I see them. I've also kept their food covered and only give them very small amounts so doesn't give much intrest for other birds to come in. New house has high colourblind fences and even more cover than the last yard and some of my new neighbours have dogs on the other sides of my fence too and So far, at both houses, I've been predator free

even though my irresponsible new neighbours have their cat roaming my front yard. I had some rats come to the old house (ferral, hoarding neighbour there who also had chickens and kept them in filthy conditions) the rats luckily didn't harm my girls, they preferred to stay on the other side of the fence and only occasionally ran through at night, I guess keeping the food left out to a minimum that would be completely consumed within a few hours has helped, I like to feed them bits and pieces throughout the day and then just let them free range to find their food from the yard. I've let them free range all day, they don't like being locked in their run so I've decided that their happy lifestyle is worth the risk, which so far in this kind of yard seems quite minimum

having a new, larger coop and run built but I'll always let them free range. And I'll keep my eye out for rouge Turkeys, just incase

 

[Dip]

Whilst i wouldn't put it past a bird any bigger than a hawk trying to attack your chickens the chances are slim. Typically hawks and smaller eagles will prey on birds from the size of sparrows to slightly smaller than magpies. It may be sad to say but since you have a lot of bird life in your suburb the eagles etc would be more interested in them than your chickens who if given the chance can run behind a shrub, car or trampoline etc. To say it could never happen is silly but if given some makeshift hidey holes or bushes to hide under they will be fine. Birds that fly to hunt will feel more comfortable hunting in the air than running/hopping around your yard chasing a chicken that is quicker on foot and more familiar with it's environment.

I have had times where i didn't have a rooster to sound the alarm and mostly there will be an alpha hen that assumes a sort of pseudo rooster roll in keeping watch. I have noticed when a rooster is around they tend to not let their guard down compared to not having one around. Usually a chicken that can run is a safe chicken, most hens that i have lost can't run quicker than a dog or cat or don't know where to run/hide. I found out the hard way 4 weeks ago that a feral dog + free range chickens don't mix and then it turned on me

. Even most roosters will move quickly to hide so i wouldn't worry about the bantam being to brave. The bushes sound like a great idea for cat protection aswell! You don't really have to have things for them to hide under it's more of a getting out of the flying birds line of sight. I'd certainly let them out lol whilst paranoia IMO is a good thing don't let it stop you. Those chicken minds should kick into overdrive in regards to survival when something flies overhead, the only real way is to test it out.

Just had our Frizzle (similar to silky size wise) killed by a hawk in Victoria today, in an enclosure, she ran under a tree/bush and the hawk just went on in and ripped her apart.
Wouldn't say it's unlikely, unless you know statistics,? Anyway happened today. Very sad, ripped her head off. Watched it happen from our tiny home home windows and couldn't save her in time. Bird was swift, cunning and violent!
A huge risk with free range/ enclosures with no roof! Take it from me.
Neighbours have had three chickens (large isla browns)! Killed by eagles/hawks.

I'd say statistics higher than you suggest. Thanks