Birds of prey - Predators- hawks

[blkramhemi]

Any info on when these animals feed?????? best time to fly the stock????

[Matt D.]

they are oppurtunist if they see food they are going to eat it... their are hawk deterrents like http://jedds.com/Products.asp?MainCa...CategoryID=753

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

they are oppurtunist if they see food they are going to eat it... their are hawk deterrents like http://jedds.com/Products.asp?MainCa...CategoryID=753 though my favorite happens to be a .22 but that isn't totally legal...=(

MATT!! Now you've been around here long enough to KNOW that this kind of talk/discussion is a BIG no no.
NO animal deserves to be punished because it's trying to survive and that includes hawks.
I can't believe you wrote what you did.
IMO......there is no such thing as a hawk deterrent. If there was such a device, no one would worry about the hawks getting their birds. There may be some things that work for a day or two, but nothing that will completely keep hawks from taking your birds.

[Matt D.]

yes I know... *tisk* *tisk*... but your right there are no deterrents... but there are distractions, and that is how they get your money.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by blkramhemi

Any info on when these animals feed?????? best time to fly the stock????

The short answer on feed for these "animals" is "your birds"..........people have been trying to come up with an answer to this problem for longer than we've been on earth. Bottom line is, if you have free flying pigeons, you'll have hawks. Sooner or later and most likely sooner. If you're going to fly your birds, you've got to live with it and hope for the best. Flying your birds at different times during the day MIGHT help some, but there's no real answer. Just part of having pigeons.
The ONE and ONLY sure way to keep your birds safe is to keep them inside.

[LokotaLoft]

I too agree that there is no such thing as a deterant to hawks and to actually write that you use a 22 shows how childish you truely are The fact is what is will be and theres no sense in taking a life that is just trying to survive as you and I do and one that you already know its out there .. I myself have lost a bird or two to birds of prey every year but I would never deny them the right of life, as they work for every morsel they take and if you really had an appreciation for birds of any sort you would never dream of ending a life that is just trying to survive as are your birds within your loft

[MaryOfExeter]

We usually have our worst hawk problems in the early morning and the afternoon. So in other words, they look for something to eat when they wake up, and before they go to bed. Really they are on the lookout all day, so there really isn't a "safe" time to let them out, unless you are there watching for predators. Personally, I'd fly my birds from 8-10am, you know...early morning, as long as they can see. This way, if you see or hear a hawk nearby and think your birds may be in danger (I wouldn't worry much if your birds were in the air, they can usually out fly the hawks), you can call them in to eat. Same thing goes for the second feeding of the day (if you have your birds on a feeding schedule that it is...).

[blkramhemi]

Yo!! Matt your crazy...

i here you though, hey will they eat the entire bird???? i was stalked today just cant figure out by what.... feathers everywhere, though no head or bones.... feathers spread out in a circle... shouldve taken the pic

Hey, be carefull dude, the boys in cali just went up state for that same deal......

Originally Posted by Matt D.

they are oppurtunist if they see food they are going to eat it... their are hawk deterrents like http://jedds.com/Products.asp?MainCa...CategoryID=753 though my favorite happens to be a .22 but that isn't totally legal...=(

[LokotaLoft]

long as theres daylight your birds arent safe when they are out and thats a fact ... if your gonna fly your birds thats something your gonna have to live with like it or lump it

[Matt D.]

yes they will eat everything but some feathers and the band... in some cases I have just found feathers. So there isnt much more than feathers after "dinner time" but if it is small like a cooper hawk then there can be a body left. A really sad story, this summer I was watching my grandpa's loft as he was on vacation and a cooper got in and ate the head and back out of a pigeon (sorry about the description but that is how it was... I almost through up!) and the cooper hawk actually got in the loft and was still there when I got there... =( so that is one example of a hawk not eating the whole bird... it really just depends on the circumstances.

[MaryOfExeter]

Speaking of cooper's, depending on where you live, you may have different hawks.
Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned hawks look very similar (except the Cooper's is bigger and has a rounded or wedged tail, instead of a squared off one) and they both are very quick. They are more likely to catch you pigeons than Red-tails. They also like to stalk the birds through the trees, then come out of the woods and attack. There's been a lot of times around here when I didn't even see the dang thing in the tree until it started the chase.
Red-tails on the other hand, are slower and can easily be out flown by homers. Because they aren't the quickest, they like more open areas like fields. Cooper's and Sharp-shins will more than likely eat the bird close to where it was killed, while the Red-tail is more likely to take the whole bird off if it wants.

Something you want to keep in mind is that there are other predators capable of killing your birds than just falcons and hawks.
Raccoons and opossums will normally find their way into the loft at night and kill. Both will normally kill only what they need to eat. Opossums will eat the head and neck only, leaving the body in the loft, while the raccoon normally only eats the breast and under the wings. Raccoons will take the pigeon off if it needs to, otherwise it'll leave it laying once it is done. Other night predators could be rats, owls, cats, dogs, or coyotes. Rats rarely attack adults, but will go for the young in the nest, eating a small portion out of the body or eating the whole thing if it is a big rat and small baby (like a few days old). I've had cases where the rat would just go through and eat a bit out of every baby in the loft. Owls may find their way into the loft at night but I doubt it. They mainly find any of your chickens or pigeons roosting in the trees, fly up and push them from the tree...scaring the prey and then catching it while the prey is trying to fly away. If you find feathers scattered around the bottom of a tree, that's probably where the owl landed to eat. They eat the whole thing, leaving only a handful of feathers. Cats, dogs, and coyotes will go on a killing spree it seems. The cat will stay to eat a bit off of what it kills, but the dogs will probably just kill for the fun of it and leave. Having dogs get your birds is a horrible seen. Even your neighbor's dogs can be a threat, not just the wild ones. Black snakes also often slither into the loft if it can, and eat every egg in the building it can find (or a good amount of them). They can also eat the babies. If you find both eggs and babies gone, it's normally a black snake (which if you're lucky enough, you'll find the snake too full to get back out of the loft, so you can take it far away and not worry about it returning next time).

-sigh-....that was a lot of typing.
Well that's my predator info for the day

[Matt D.]

So I had a few people tell me about my .22 comment of a few days ago... I would like to say I was misunderstood. I did not make my self clear. Please do not shoot or shoot near a hawk. If you have a .22 and a hawk comes close to your pigeons you can shoot into a hill side and it will scare the hawks the worst, and amazingly it doesnt scare the pigeons to much. Though mine are used to it? I am very sorry for not being more clear. I have never or ever plan to kill a hawk for just doing what it's naturally going to do. Again, I didnt not mean to sound like I shoot hawks out of the sky I have also revised my post so that the perticular sentence has been erased.

[MaryOfExeter]

Yes, that is and sounds much better. We've done that before too. Like one time I had just let my homers out when the coast was clear, but then a whole horde of hawks decided they'd come out to play. I just set up a bottle across the creek and did some target practice with my .17. That gun is just loud enough to make the hawks stay at least a little more clear from the loft. My pigeons are used to it though, since we do live sorta out in the country, so there's always someone practicing or hunting around here.

[ward myers]

there is a design for a humane hawk trap ,& the hawk can then be relocated
i will be doing some research on this subject myself & will post my findings
thanks ward

[ward myers]

i triied jedds website it must be down
thanks ward