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farmerjan

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It sounds like you have a "chicken hawk" and although that name has been applied to red-tailed hawks, they are not true "chicken hawks". The Coopers hawk and the sharp shinned hawk are both smaller and very tenacious. They will challenge you if they have a prey in their talons on the ground.
BE AWARE.... legally..... it is against the law to kill any bird of prey. OKAY that said, and I will not come out and say that you need to "kill" this bird on an open forum...... this bird will not quit. It must be "dealt with".

Was helping my son take care of his fathers' chickens 2 years ago. Went by to lock them in one night when my son couldn't get there when his father was in the hosp after a knee replacement. The chickens were having a fit, and I hadn't turned on the lights so they wouldn't get off the roost poles and try to go back out the trap doors into the runs. These are purebred show birds and my ex is fanatical about locking them in. I saw from the flashlight that there was a bird on the floor and went into the pen to put it on the roost and realized it was not just the chicken but a chicken hawk eating the chicken, I am thinking the sharp-shinned hawk, sitting there in the semi-darkness eating this chicken. I dropped the trap door, then had to figure out what to do from there as it would be able to go over the top of the chicken wire dividers and get in with other birds in the early daylight hours. My son is 3 hrs away so no help. I finally was able to get ahold of him, found and got down a big homemade "havahart" type trap and put it in the pen and was going to try to scoot the hawk into it in the semi-darkness. Well, the hawk decided to fly up onto the chicken wire division wire, and I finally found a long broom handle that I could knock it off and as it laid stunned on the floor, I quickly picked it up (with gloves on obviously ) shoved it into the trap and dropped the trap's door. I was going to put it into a cardboard box , then realized it could get out, and then was going to put it into a show carry box for taking the show chickens to poultry show, but realized it could squeeze out the narrow openings at the top. I drug the trap outside and told my son that it was in there, outside, all the chickens were locked in for the night and it was not my problem now.

This hawk had gotten into the coop from the outside chicken run.... that is completely covered with wire to prevent any kind of animal getting into them...... by squeezing inbetween the frame of the run where there was about 3 inches space between it and the actual building. Seems it had been seen several times flying down and sitting on the top of the covered runs, watching the birds, and had finally found its way in there.

They are relentless. They will get in a spot that you would never give a second thought to. They are fast, very agile birds, both live in more "forest" tree type setting where as the red-tails will prefer more open settings.

Enough said.
 

rachels.haven

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Hmm, maybe Bailey will get a chance to kill and eat a razor blade chicken then. Or maybe one of the pregnant goats will get hungry for a little protein. Terrible fence jumpers, some goats.

Today I'm on my toes, but so are the local birds. The ravens AND crows in the area are going after birds of prey that are wheeling through the area on the heavy gusts of wind we're having like crazy. The smaller probably chicken hawk got dive bombed to the ground by the huge combined pack of birds. I don't know nor do i care what happened to him. Then a few minutes later the redtail that probably lives nearby had 5-6 ravens on him as he zoomed away. Busy bonepickers, hard at work. Maybe they are good for something. Too bad they aren't that fiesty every day.
 

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Ugh, one of the invisible barn cats is turning into a normal cat. Today I was trimming hooves with Ms. Bailey locked out of the barn and the main door shut but the wing doors into the barn pens open.
Me: Trimming, trimming, flattening, filing...
Cat: *randomly appearing out of nowhere* MEOW.
Me: look up, then keep trimming because cat can jump over stall walls and out the wing doors and walk through the fence.
Cat: Meowowowowowowowow... *much garbled meowing and sudo talking*
Me: looks up, wondering if cat is in the litter box with a urinary tract infection or kidney stone or dying or something...
Cat: sitting by big barn door, staring back at me, tail going, irritated.
Me: looks away and continues trimming.
Cat: won't stop. For longer than I care to admit.
Eventually I walk over to the door slowly expecting the cat to dart away or hiss or something as I get there. He just "supervises" my walking over as normal cats do. So I open the door. Bailey comes in (to get in the way for hoof trimmings) and after a tense moment the cat walks out because the dog coming in was not part of his master plan and contributed to too many variables. Yeah. The big door is way better than the two little doors when you can make someone open it for you. So feline.

So yes, one of the Clyde the barn cats is becoming a cat now (still not sure which is which). And he talks a lot, like a little crazy shrill person with no words. And I am a cat servant. Never saw that coming. I mean, my cats growing up made everyone their staff and had long running conversations complete with requests and demands on a regular basis, but they were ALWAYS friendly and they chose to live with us people. Domestic. I figured the ferocious feral barn cats would just stay that way.
 

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Moon Mist LOG Purple Summer has gone beyond lost ligaments and has progressed to the point I can almost feel something sort of pushing up in the space below her tail head...which probably means she will go tomorrow, of course, but we'll see. Summer is being very quiet and not complaining or doing much to express discomfort as she progresses, so I'm not sure. I guess she could start pushing in 5 minutes. She's all bagged up too but that means fairly little, you learn fast.
She's not as lovey as Saffy is, but she is still sweet and she's so beautiful (she's a lamancha, after all).
 

rachels.haven

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Twin bucks for Summer-one cream and one red or brown.
I will take pictures when mom's major cleaning out is done.
That takes our kid counter to 7. Doelings:1 Bucklings 6. The buck fairy is strong this year.
The last doe to kid is Epimetheus Lace sometime between May 9th and May 14th. Maybe she'll give us a set of does? (2 so none are giant???)
 
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