Buzzards and Pine Martens

chrismahon

chrismahon

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Apart from the landlord's dogs, the Chasse dogs, stray dogs, foxes and Wild Boar we have two new predators eyeing up their next meal!

Had something chew through the temporary enclosure plastic screening. Didn't bother using the same hole, just kept chewing more. Then spotted a large hole in the Eglu netting. Put some pellets down but they weren't taken so it isn't a rabbit or rat. Turns out there is a Pine Marten (or several) in this area. They are up to two feet long plus tail and weigh up to 5 lbs. They range over considerable woodland but regularly frequent feeding spots. Fortunately all our coops are raised off the ground to avoid rat problems. Pine Martens hunt at night and dusk so if we lock them all away promptly we should be OK. They hate chicken wire and chew car rubber like wiper blades and brake hoses to clean their teeth. So people park their cars on chicken wire in problem areas. They are not protected here.

The second visitor is the reason for my post. The resident buzzard has taken an interest in the coops and their contents. Basil, the 'laid back' Buff Orpington spotted it yesterday and started the alarm call immediately- it flew off when I was still 60 yards away. Problem is, although they are perfectly safe in the runs, once we let them free range in the new enclosure are they at risk? There are lots of trees within and around the enclosure. But how agile are they at taking off and landing in tight spaces? Has anyone watch one land and take off on the ground. I've only seen them at tree level or on fence posts and they seem to struggle to take off being so big. But I know they land to catch rabbits. Do I need to string yellow washing line between the trees or something, as that's a lot of washing lines?
 
If the buzzards can sit in the open branches of a tree they will just drop down, eat a smallish bird, then hop back up again ready to take off from the tree, if you have a good cockerel he should spot him and sound the alarm, also of the branches are more "tangled" together you should be safe. Also if the land falls away at any point they can use this to advantage when taking off. Lost a few growers to buzzards here on the Hereford/Worcestershire borders, but now the pens are in a more open spot with a few cockerels on watch things seems safer. Part of my pens are roofed over, and if the males sound the alarm the birds run back, but it does mean they don't like ranging so much :?
 
Thanks Darkbrowneggs. That's what I feared. There are three oaks in the enclosure with suitable branches. I'll string some washing line and add a central shelter of some description. There will be one cockerel, but he's more valuable than the hens as we have 4 of them. The other trees are Hornbeam which have few side branches and have side shoots anyway so not suitable for perching. So our problems aren't over yet, just more starting.
 
I've got a sparrow hawk who's decided that my girls look ripe for picking, so had to string a HUGE piece of netting over the whole width of the back garden (not sure how allotment will now fare against pigeons). She seems to be pretty agile and and can swoop through the narrowest gap to pounce on anything silly enough to be out if cover - including my head!
We've had buzzards above us too, but I believe they need either a advantageous branch to allow them to drop off with enough room for wings spread, or a big enough space to be able to swoop in from direct flight above, so 30ft wide garden with fruit trees and birch doesn't give them enough space to manouver and they've never been a problem.
As long as there is (as you say) a tangle of 'something' overhead that they can clearly see, they should steer clear.
Sounds like its out of the frying pan into the fire for your birds :)
 
And the rspb deny that buzzards are a hazard to hens! We have lots of them here in the Scottish Borders and we even have to protect our little spaniel puppies from them
 
I suspect that is what has happened to our white kitten as we have lots of buzzards around. I'm going to make a shelter from three 3ft high fence panels - for the dustbath - but thst will give the hens two places to run and hide
 
I know in the UK the local free range egg supplier lost more chickens to buzzards than foxes. I'll have to get up the ladder then and buy some bright washing line to interrupt any flight path. It is huge, so can't be that manoeuvrable. Then I'll add a shelter in the centre to compliment the undergrowth at the sides.
 
Hi Chris,
I certainly don't trust buzzards, having seen them in action. What a shame to have now to cope with them, pine martens sound nasty, too.
All of these sorts of hazards, and the fox, we have to cope with. I never let my girls free range, unless I'm either in the gardren or the house with the windows open!
My latest hazard is very unexpected. A heron. I know he takes fish from the pond, but I never expected him to eye chicks as a potential morsel.
I went out, and he flew off. He has done it since, but even the tinies started making a racket, he did'nt stay long.
Washing line and a shotgun sound good to me.
 
Shotguns are still in the UK Valerie, pending getting a French licence. Probably easier getting a UK one and exporting them -and I thought I was saving money!

We have a lot of tripods I built to support the temporary enclosure netting. We're going to scatter them about as well. Not sure there are foxes left here, but the last owner lost all his peacock chicks to one. So I guess they are in hiding until nightime, when the dogs are in bed, as they should be until townies started feeding them in their gardens and hunting was banned.
 
Wouldn't want one of these near my girls, seems they almost non existent in England these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_mDjZLPrA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
As far as I am aware DBE they can hunt anything. The local Chasse are given tags to put on the animals killed and they have to record everything. When they run out of tags they can't kill. I very much doubt foxes have any other status then vermin here -lots of small farms with chickens and other poultry and the income from them is heavily relied on. Chasse is basically 'the chase'. They send the dogs into one end of the forest and kill anything that comes out at the other end. Fortunately a lot escapes sideways.
 
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