What is this bird of prey???? It's eatting all my chickens! (1 Viewer)

What is this bird of prey???? It's eatting all my chickens!

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I'm new here and need help! My chickens and young pullets ( replacement hens ) I ordered from the hatchery are all starting to disappear a few at a time. Now the numbers are really dropping. 2 Nights ago my teenage son saw a bird in the tree's behind the coop. My birds usually free range during the day. Then last night the same bird dove from a tree near the chicken coop and all the young chickens born just a few months ago ran for my son, the bird of prey just cleared over my son's head. Today the yard went quiet and their was no birds to be seen. Which is hard since I have 43 ducks, 33 turkeys, and I did have over 150 chickens! I counted the chickens this morning there are 67! Anyway I went out to look and see why I couldn't see a living soul in the yard. The chickens were under bushes and shurbs and such actting like the devil was after them. I looked in the tree's near the coop and saw this bird. I slowly went in the house and got a camera. I couldn't get too close without spooking him but I do have a zoom and I zoomed in on the bird before it flew away. My son thought it was a falcon of some sort, his first thought was a Peregrine falcon. And I was thinking he might be right but after searching online I don't think so. I did find a Goshawk that might be what it is. But I have a pic and maybe if I can get it loaded, someone out there will know what it is.I live in Upstate NY...along the Canadian Border very close to Vermont. Can anyone help me? I'm going to try to post a picture .

Goshawk?

Yes, an adult Northern Goshawk. I'm sorry to hear about your poultry, that's a bummer! I've had chicken-eating incidents involving Great-horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks, and one time an Eastern Screech-Owl looked interested. I didn't know Accipiter would prey on something as large as chicken.

The bird in the photo is an adult Northern Goshawk, the largest of the three similar species. Those species being (in order of size, small to large) Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk and Northern Goshawk.

Sorry to hear about your loss of chickens, but I would not think that this bird is responsible for the loss of 83 chickens. I would suspect that there may be other culprits also killing your chickens. Perhaps a fox, weasel, or some other mammal is getting into the "hen house".

I agree with Larry. If you have access to a night vision camera, try it. I think one of the culprits is a racoon. I would highly recommend that you rewire the entire coop with hardware cloth (looks like rabbit wire). If you just patch spots, the racoons (predators) will find another weak spot and get through.

I am familiar with these circumstances and a curious volunteer offered their night vision camera for a few nights. Our culprit was a racoon and we secured the entire perimeter with additional wire and it has kept the racoons out. Don't bother to remove the predator, another will take its place. Use deterents, like a fortifide coop, and/ or a guard (donkey, emu, dog).

Agree with northern goshawk, and also agree that it couldn't possibly take that many chickens (even if they are young). One of the goshawk's favorite foods is ruffed grouse (chicken of the woods), so no doubt he/she has had a meal or two, but not that many. The raccoon hypothesis sounds good, or possibly a fox. I do hope you can find a deterent/improved shelter solution as oppossed to blasting all the predators.

Good luck,
Scott

Thanks everyone for posting. I did loss a few to unknow culprits at night. Those were mostly I believe the ones that didn't come in for the night. I did lose a couple to crowding. Most of the chickens were replacement hens ordered the end of July, so they aren't too big . Probably easy pickings for a hawk. I've never had hawk problems before. Raccoons, foxes and an occassional weasel. But never hawks. My coop around my small hen house it made of welded wire, like the kind you use for dogs, it has a pressure treated framework and even the top is welded wire. A raccoon or fox can't get in even if they wanted too. I also put it on flat ledge so there is no digging in either. But now a weasel can get in since it is welded wire. I hear they can get into very small places. Most of the birds are disappearing in broad daylight before they get put int for the night. The other hen house is a building that is closed off completely at nightfall so nothing can get in. I haven't found but a handful of bodies...( weasel I thought ). And I've trapped alot of coons, just for the sake of being safe. But the birds are hiding alot during the day and watching the sky. Could there be more then one hawk? I lost 10 young pullets just since monday.

It's a mustilid. A weasel or a mink. No other animal or bird has that kind of blood lust.
Bob

I have read about weasels getting into hen houses and killing all the chickens without eating a single bite. I would say weasel rather than mink...just doesn't sound like something a mink would do...around my area they are very secretive and try to avoid humans...

I have some experience with this at my work place . There is a chicken coop that is very well protected - but there have been massive kills with chicken heads lying in the dirt - half eaten bodys ect,ect. I have to agree with ceasar, these types of kills - the bloodlust ones seem like a weasel - it was varified to me when we found a dead one in the nearby barn. That said , we have also had Goshawk sitting on top of the coop - not a chance of it getting in though with a roof on top of the coop.

The problem is I have only found a handful of bodies. Everyone else just disappeared into thin air so to speak. The ones I did find dead were in the coop which led me to believe a weasel since my husband saw one crossing the road onto our property and that would explain bodies that seem to be intact. Since there is no way for a larger predator to get into the hen house or coop. But during the day they all are turned loose to free range, that is where the numbers seem to not add up. Right before dark all the birds are housed back up, at least every bird that we can find. Most go right into the coop to roost without any coaxing. But when I do a head count when letting them out the next morning , the numbers don't add up. I keep a notebook of all the breeds, the numbers of each kind and such. It's mostly roosters and young pullets ( 3 month olds ) that are gone. No bodies ever found. They just disppeared while out in the yard. Now that we have seen the goshawk, I know where some of them have gone. But either that's one very hungry hawk or he has buddies that come over to eat. I do see an occassional turkey vulture but I haven't seen them in the yard, just flying overhead and then drifting off. Most of the birds stay very close to the house and back yard. So something has to be getting them while they are roaming around. Today I heard the guineas let out a warning call then everything went silent.( I have 3 guineas to help sound the alarm ) That's when I knew something was up when you couldn't see a single bird and they were even hiding under the minivan. I hate to have to keep them penned up all day too. They love to free range and it helps with bugs and such. I've had chickens here for 16 years and only once did I lose this many and that was a family of foxes. And I knew about them but didn't have good tight coops back then, so they stole over 60 one spring/summer to feed their pups. There was a fox den earlier this year, they got a couple of our mallard ducks but their numbers got picked off between hunters and them becoming road kill. Raccoons are very abundant here and we've trapped quite a few but those come at night not in broad daylight. Plus coons usually kill and leave behind remains. There is nothing here. The birds stay pretty close to the house and I'm home all day long. I usually don't hear anything out of the ordinary. I'm sort of stumped on this one. I'm out alot of money and time and effort, not to mention chickens. I hope I can figure out what is going on soon. Thanks to everyone for their post.

tim.birdboy said:

Yes, an adult Northern Goshawk. I'm sorry to hear about your poultry, that's a bummer! I've had chicken-eating incidents involving Great-horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks, and one time an Eastern Screech-Owl looked interested. I didn't know Accipiter would prey on something as large as chicken.

Click to expand...

Goshawks have attacked birds as large as Canada Geese

You are probably right in suspecting a weasel on the bodies found in the coop. The disappearance of the others while out side the coop makes me think that coyotes could be the culprits. Our neighboring farmer lost most of his barn cats to coyotes and also a newborn calf that was born in a pasture. They are now far too common here in the east. One was even captured recently within the city limits of New York City. They are rapidly becoming pests here in the east where they have no natural enemies.
Bob

How high is your yard fence? Maybe they just flew the coop? 83 in a single day sounds really spectacular.

They probably wouldn't go too far Terry. If they can fly a bit they would roost in any nearby tree. When I was a kid, there was a bar near where I lived. The owner raised fighting chickens. He kept the roosters in pens but the hens stayed outside and scratched for a living. When the sun set it was entertaining to watch them fly up into the trees to roost.
Bob

Whats the average weight of your chickens?. As you've found few bodies, somethinges removing them to eat. I'd have thought the Hawks would at least eat part of whatever they've caught at the site and there would be evidence, feathers everywhere!

Hi Terry, Bob, Ceasar, alan_rymer

I'll try to answer everyone...There are no fences. They free range the entire property. When I say yard I mean my yard, there are no fences. The only fenced in placed with tops are the coops I described earlier. 83 are missing but not in one day. They have been slowing disappearing over about a month. It's just getting real obvious now as the numbers are much smaller. When you have alot of birds you don't notice half a dozen gone when there are so many. But after awhile you see the flock just doesn't look right and start counting. Anyway most of these are my son's so he does most of the chores. At one point I counted 108. Then the next major count came in at 90 then the next time was 77 ( monday ) and yesterday was 67. ( friday ) I haven't see any coyotes here or signs of them, there are coy dogs but nothing to show they have been this close to the house as of yet. My chickens aren't very big. The son had some bantams in the flock and my 3 month old pullets are only about the size of his D'Uccle bantams. If that helps with sizing. There was only about 38 larger chickens ( at the time I counted 90 left.) I keep a notebook to check the numbers. I had 40 pullets, 12 bantams and 38 standard size older chickens. Alot were missing . I have 2 acres of free range for them though they never seem to stray from my yard. I did have some chickens given to my son who were tree roosters, they are definatley amoung the ones missing since they didn't want to go in the hen house at night. About remains, none have been found. ( Besides the bodies that appear untouched ).Also the yard has tons of feathers, so that doesn't help me determine if something happened here as I had so many birds, it's normal to find feathers everywhere. There is always a bird fight somewhere...turkey & guinea...Rooster and turkey, duck and rooster, or rooster and rooster. So there are always feathers. They seem more afraid of the sky when I release them. The spend their time checking the sky and hiding under bushes much more now. We've seen the goshawk 3 days in a row . And I'm sure it was here countless times before we saw it. I'm going to try to catch all the pullets and see what's left of the smaller chickens today. I wanted to do another count today but my son got up early and let them out before I could count them again. So I'll have to wait for a count.

So, if its a Weasel, it's dragging the prey with it underground, hence why you aren't finding bodies or remailns.
I also wouldn't blame a Mink . The tend to like living near water and are very wary.
You could easily have more that one bird of prey though . If the Goshawk is doing so well at your place, then he could have attracted all kinds of friends, like perhaps a Coopers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, or a Merlin.
I know what I would do ( if you have one or can borrow one ) Set up a camcorder and leave it running somewhere , fliming the area where the chickens roam free . Even if you set it up at a wide-angle , so you would see where the predator is coming from, the sky, or from below and more importantly , what it is .

Yesterday the hawk took one of my large Dominque hens right while we were outside. It sat and ate it near a small brook I have. I didn't see it take it, I saw it here and tried to spook it away. I have only 2 domique hens so when I couldn't find one after just seeing it a few minutes earier, I started looking. My daughter said she saw a dead bird carcus in the woods near the brook. It's not very wooded just some tree's. I went to check and the hawk flew right over me but it was not the same hawk. The same type but smaller. So it led me to believe I had seen the female which is suppose to be larger then the male earlier and maybe a male this time. It was marked the same just smaller. The chicken was completely stripped. It showed up again today several times but I had the birds locked up. I think maybe the word is out that we have an all you can eat diner here.