The Peachy Chicken Chronicles: Vol 2

Happy Friday friends. I hope you are staying safe and enjoying the content that I am posting lately. Today’s topic isn’t exactly the “happiest” but I want to share my experience so it doesn’t happen to you. Since this is my first year owning chickens, I am constantly learning new things. This, unfortunately, is one of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn.

The Cost of Free Ranging

In my first installment of the Peachy Chronicles I discussed how we thought a hawk had possibly attacked our girls. We weren’t 100% sure but went ahead and did everything we could to prevent a future attack. After not spotting a hawk for weeks, we allowed the girls to free range again. Every morning we would let them out to carry out their day free ranging in our yard. At night we would make sure they were in their coop and would lock the door. For 10 months this worked without any issues. Unfortunately our luck came to an end and we paid the price of allowing them to free range.

The day the girls were attacked started out as a normal day. I let them out in the morning to spend the day free ranging before we hit the road to Florida. I was sitting on the couch while Robinson napped when I heard Blanche singing her “happy egg song”. I always go check for an egg after I hear her so I walked out to the coop. When I opened the nesting box to grab the egg I saw Dot and Sophia laying inside. I also saw that Dot was completely mangled to the point I wasn’t exactly sure if it was her or Rose. I immediately started yelling “NO NO NO”.

I quickly grabbed Blanche and opened the coop door. At that point I could see Dot’s distinct feathers and knew it was her. Something had eaten her neck, most her face and had split her breast. Sophia on the other hand was untouched. I later found out that Sophia most likely died of shock.

Since I couldn’t immediately find Rose, I assumed the predator took her away. I started looking for her body everywhere. I even grabbed my tall ladder to see if maybe she was taken to a neighbors yard but nothing. I finally decided to check under our outdoor furniture and found her there. She was horrified and wouldn’t come out until I brought her blueberries. I was relieved to have half my flock still alive.

Identifying the Predator

One of the first things I did after the attack was try to figure out what killed my chickens. It is very important to do this after an attack so you can try to proof your coop and chickens from it happening again. I posted on my Facebook chicken group and a lot of people said it sounded like a raccoon. But I just wasn’t convinced. I have never seen a raccoon in our neighborhood, especially not in my yard. Also, raccoons rarely come out during the day so that was odd too.

While I was cleaning up the coop after the attack, I noticed a hawk kept coming to our fence. I saw it three times that afternoon and I would always scare it away. I started to get a feeling the hawk was the culprit because I found it ironic that it kept coming back.

The next morning I looked out the window and I saw something jumping around the coop. It was the SAME hawk trying to find a way to get inside the coop! That was the moment I knew it was a hawk attack. Hawks are extremely intelligent and completely capable of flying into a run and coop if they are hunting.

Life After the Attack

I’m sure my pregnancy hormones had a lot to do with it but I had a very hard time losing Dot and Sophia. Especially in this manner. I felt that I could have possibly prevented it by not letting them free range or by proofing the yard more. But over time I accepted that it was not my fault and that it is just the circle of life. As I mentioned before, this is one of the worst parts about raising chickens.

Ever since the attack my surviving chickens, Blanche and Rose, do not free range unless I am outdoors with them. I also extended their run (doubled it in size) to give them more grazing room. Sure it’s not the same as a full yard but at least this way they will be safe. In case you are wondering, hunting hawks is NOT an option. They are federally protected and you could be fined up to $15,000 if caught messing with them. That is why protecting your chickens from future attacks is the only option.

Besides keeping them safe in their coop and runs, you can also try to proof your backyard. Keep in mind proofing does not guarantee a future attack but could lower your chances. This includes getting a fake owl, a scarecrow, stringing CD’s or other “shiny” objects around the yard. You can also limit when you let them free range to only late spring- early fall. Attacks are more common in late fall and winter because there is less tree coverage and hawks are desperately looking for food.

Silver Lining

The only silver lining in this situation is I ordered a few more chicks (okay maybe 8 new chicks) to join Rose and Blanche next month. I am super excited because I ordered a few breeds I learned about ever since getting my original flock like a lavender orpington, olive egger and a few bantams. I also ordered another Easter Egger which was Dot’s breed. I cannot wait for their arrival in April!

I hope you find todays edition of the Peachy Chronicles helpful. I truly pray this never happens to you or to me again. Thanks again for following along! Stay tuned for next weeks chronicles when I share how I am prepping for our second wave of chicks!

Xo,