Attack

[Marigold]

It does sound as if they're in a nice secure run, Merryski - your first post didn't make this as clear as yesterday's. Better secure than terrorised or dead!
How big are they? Last winter we saw a sparrowhawk kill a collared dove (smallish bantam size) and he sat and plucked and ate it in a ground-level bush outside the window. Made an awful mess, feathers everywhere. But I don't think they'd be able to tackle a full-sized chicken.

 

[AlexArt]

I doubt a sparrow hawk would do it! - they are very small, I had an injured one years ago and it weighed about the same as a dove, a female can bring down a pidgeon but it's not very common! Buzzards usually go for carrion/worms/bugs etc but can and do hunt very well, they have smaller feet than some types of raptor so it is harder for the males to hunt, as they are smaller generally, but a mature female buzzard are quite capable of large prey. We get them here and they often take pheseants, I had one who had been hit by a car last winter he spent a few weeks in a large dog crate in the kitchen until he got better, he easily ripped his way through a rabbit carcass, and the strength in their feet is amazing, he grabbed my hand while I was cleaning him out - went right through the bit of muscle between thumb and forefinger - took me 5 mins to get him off - really made my eyes water!!!! :roll: I have also had a female buzzard years ago that had broken her wing in a storm and she was huuuge - I had to watch her round my cats if I got her out of her cage as I don't think she would have had much problem with one!!! 11

Mind you a friend of mine had 6 almost fully feathered full grown duckilings in her garden, one day a family of 14 or so magpies killed and ate the lot - there were just bones left - you could see the tracks, they had cornered them in an unfinished pond in the mud, and another neighbor of hers lost a hen and chicks to the same birds - a farmer came and shot most of them and it didn't happen again - so weird things can happen!!! :shock:

Glad you've got your chooks safely penned up, with this weather driving alot of things to look for easy meals, I'm sure the list of things that would like a nice juicy chook is rather long!!!!!

 

[Merryski]

As I have said earlier and would imagine everyone else would be the same it's the not knowing, so what precautions should you take and eventually you end up paranoid thinking the worst, started reading about the rat problem on another thread and then started to think the ventilation round the top of the coop would a mouse or rat get in there ? Its funny the mention of magpies as we have a bird feeder and regularly magpies come and feed from the spills on the floor and the chooks chase them off with a bit of a sprint and flapping of wings, I have never seen a fox in the area and we are fairly rural and we do see buzzards on a daily basis, the wound was about 2inch dia hole which had been ripped along with her feathers over quite a large area all in the open, she was about 40 weeks old Speckeldy so not the biggest of girls, took them for a walk this afternoon for 20mins and then put them back in their run in time for bed, I feel sad they are now locked up more than being able to free range, I have tried to tell them its for their own good, but don't think they listen, they are spoilt rotten !

 

[chrismahon]

We had Magpies that terrorised the Leghorn Bantams. A very carfully placed .22 pellet stopped that. Next time I pop over to the farmshop -the chap who has the chicken farm -I'll ask him what a Buzzard attack looks like, as they have had dozens taken from their 3000 flock.