4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[sage and onion]

Has anyone had any problems with birds of prey?

I had a Kestral perch on the fence yesterday, my OH thought it may of been there to take a chicken, lucky enough l was sitting quite close to it so l was able to scare it away.

We live in the country, and have quite alot of kestrals & buzzards etc floating around, also mink, a neighbour had £2000 worth of rare breeds & the mink had taken all there heads off.

It's such a wake up call for a novice to realise it's not just foxes to be aware of!

[Olly]

There's a sticky about it here - your chickens will be frightened of it, because they instinctively recognise that something big hovering overhead is not good! I don't think there is a huge risk of one being taken though.

[Chucky Mama]

Kestrals are quite small so they wouldn't cope with a chicken and I think that a buzzard would generally only eat something like a chicken if it was already dead.

[teri]

the chicken are generally too big for most birds of prey, chicks on the other hand would be a perfect meal. i had a kestral fly over my garden a few weeks ago as it did so it dropped its dinner. a sparrow it quickly swooped down and retrieved it even though i was in the garden. i think if they have their own chicks to feed they become a bit more daring.

[lisaroo2]

I wouldn't worry about the kestrel too much, a chook is way too big for it to carry off. As for buzzards, they mostly take carrion or rabbits. We have a buzzard near to us and if the chooks get wind of it they just go inside their run. I've not seen the buzzard even blink an eye at the girls when its come over the garden.

 

Hope this helps...

[Patricia W]

We have the occasional Red Kite which circles high overhead. The chickens set up an alarm call - but it seems only to be interested in viewing, not eating. Even though they are Bantams I think they are too big for it.

 

But it took me a while to realise what the fuss was about. I didn't think to look up!