I read somewhere (maybe Bent's life histories, I don't know) that Goshawks
and especially Cooper's Hawks were the "chicken hawks", notorious for flying
into chicken coops and dragging chickens out, even when a person was
standing nearby.



Chickens are like Big Macs. Easy fast food, tender, high in fat,, and the
perfect size to appeal to everything from a weasel to a coyote. A chicken
coop might as well have golden arches over it.



I truly feel for the modern chicken in a factory farm (using the term "farm"
loosely), stuck in a tiny wire cage, in a giant tin building with a few
hundred thousand other chickens. Yet, it has occurred to me that the demise
of the old style way of raising chickens in small flocks in a million
ramshackle coops was a blessing for the predator community.



A person that does not raise chickens can admire the hawk or an owl roosting
in their yard. To a person with chickens, anything with claws or talons is
a threat. I think the decline of the family chicken coop helped end the
mentality of shooting every raptor on sight.



Fortunately, the hobbyist chicken raisers of today tend to build expensive,
sturdy chicken enclosures.



Kelly Cassidy



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Mike &
MerryLynn
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 5:03 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Goshawk takes chicken



Hello all,

My brother sent me a photo this morning - his wife was cleaning out their
chicken house and a couple of the chickens were out - the gos came down and
snagged one right there - near LaCenter, Clark County, WA.

Photo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/m-ml_wallawalla/



Later, MerryLynn





*******************************************************
Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the beautiful Walla Walla Valley



"If you haven't birded, you haven't lived"