I was visited by an immature peregrine falcon last weekend.

[LWolf]

I was out working in the barn, when I heard a chicken call an alert, and then a horrific screech. I ran, and found the falcon down in the orchard with one of my young birds.

One of my hens hatched out 10 chicks on August 1st. They are old enough that mom isn't hovering around them any more. I've had more trouble telling the sex of these than any I've ever had before, so I'm not sure if I lost young pullets or cockerels. Anyway, I spent last weekend chasing the falcon off. I love having birds around, and generally enjoy the presence of hawks and falcons, even if I lose an occasional bird. This youngster, though, was perched on the 4 foot fence separating the yard from the coop and orchard. I'd chase it off, and it would fly to the top of the nearest tree and wait for me to leave. I lost another young bird before they got wise enough to follow the adults back into the protected area; it has a wire roof.

The falcon finally left, after all the easy prey was out of reach for a day. Why couldn't it focus on the pack rats and magpies stealing my eggs?

[Frustratedlady]

1. Awwwww, I remember when my mother would get baby chicks in the spring

They were always so much fun to watch.

Nature can be disturbing. I hope they can escape danger in the future and make it to the adult stage. Good luck!

[LWolf]

4. While I don't want to lose them,

I accept that some losses are inevitable when they free range, which mine do. I just wish the falcons and hawks would make sure they only picked up the cockerels; that way, I'd be sharing my food with them, but not losing future egg production. ;)

[DKRC]

2. Love hawks & falcons

We had a redtail hawk visit us all the time. To keep it away from the chickens I'd drape a dead snake over the farthest fence post in our pasture. The hawk would land on an easy meal & ignore the chickens. When it was cold I could usually come up with a rat or two.
Worked for us. I don't see why doing the same with your magpies/pack rats wouldn't work for you.

[LWolf]

3. I've only seen 2 snakes in the 4 years I've lived here.

One gopher, one garter. I know they are there, I just never see them. What would the packrats and magpies love that would entice them away from the eggs?

[DKRC]

5. Bait the trap with eggs if that's what they're after

I can't think of a way to do that with magpies, but for the rats, I'd put a couple of big rat traps into a barrel on it's side with eggs on the far side of the traps near the closed end. The rats would have to go into the barrel, & over the traps to reach the eggs.
Voila hawk kibble. Or falcon kibble in your case. :evilgrin:

I think the area around our place in lower AL was like Disneyland for snakes. We had them everywhere so treating the hawk to snakebits once or twice a week wasn't difficult.

[LWolf]

6. That's not a bad idea, for the rats, anyway.

The magpies? They are incorrigible.

[LWolf]

7. An update..

After being gone for a couple of weeks, the falcon was back. THIS time, I was headed to the coop and small wire-covered chicken yard, which has one side of the fence open so that they can get into the orchard, when I noticed that they were all huddled nervously under, and in the branches of, a massively overgrown lilac bush right outside my back door. (It's a REALLY large bush; about 10 feet tall, a diameter of about 10 feet, with "weeping" branches reaching down to the ground, thick with leaves.)

When I got to the coop, the falcon was INSIDE the covered yard; it had flown in low, through the open gate, and couldn't find its way out. Talk about up close and personal. I took the opportunity to observe it for awhile from a distance of about 6 feet, and then quietly "herded" it towards the gate; when it finally got free, this time, it did not fly off to a nearby tree to wait for me to leave. It STREAKED up and away, and was still going when I lost sight.

No new casualties, thank goodness. Although it really seemed to freak them out to have the killer in the "safe" yard. They tried to roost in the lilac for a couple of nights, grumbling when I rousted them out and back into the coop.

[truedelphi]

8. A peregrine falcon story

On the day that Bush started dropping bombs on Iraq, I tried to offset that violence by spending the day meditating and working on some poems.

Around 4 Pm, there was a huge upset in the crow population.

(This was when we still lived in Sausalito.) Anyway about a dozen crows were getting noisier and noisier.

I finally went out to the side yard and threw a broom at them. Although it missed all of them by half a mile, it caused them to disperse (Or so I thought.)

"Heavens" I remember thinking, "even the wildlife doesn't have it together today."

A short while later, I heard the crows going crazy up in the front yard. I took my trusty broom, and headed up there. Several huge crows were dive bombing this gorgeous peregrine falcon. She looked terrified of these big birds. I chased them off and then watched as she settled on a branch above my head.

"Sorry they bothered you. The world is one crazy place today, and you have to excuse them." She blinked at me as any wounded heroine would, and I felt gratified that she appreciated my efforts.

I then started back to the house, but heard a noise under a hedgerow. Something small and timid was rustling about beneath the dead leaves and bramble. I peeked underneath, and it was an adolescent crow.

Ms Falcon was not the victim -she was the Perp! And I had just set it up perfectly for her - the small crow now had no one defending it once I drove its older relatives off.

So I then turned and yelled at the falcon. I went back in the house and brought my notebooks out to the yard, so I could watch over the small crow.

Friends of mine later on chided me - "Does the world really need another crow?" But it was a day when enough violence was being done.

[LWolf]

9. I love to watch falcons hunt.

Just not my domestic chickens.

My visitor was lovely, and if he'd been stalking the abundant quail on my place, or, even better, the thieving magpies, I wouldn't have had a problem with it.

As it is, I lost 2 pullets. If I were going to sacrifice some of the flock, I would have pointed him in the direction of the cockerels.

I accept the role predators play, and their hunts to sustain life.

Human violence, though...

so senseless, and so efficient at growing the worst characteristics of humanity, instead of the best. :(

[dhpgetsit]

10. I have a lot of old CDs

I heard that CDs, mylar balloons, pie tins and other reflective things confuse or repel birds of prey. So I have a CD on top of all the big fence posts and other structures in the yard. So far I have not lost a chicken. Also smaller birds like swallows do a good job chasing hawks away.