Well, it turns out that my two little baby chicks both died today. Around 1:00 p.m. I decided to send them outside for a little fresh air, they had their feathers in (most of them). And so every half hour to an hour I checked up them. 5:30 p.m. rolls along and I eating dinner, all the sudden I see this fast black flying object. So something in my head says to me, that somethings wrong with the chicks outside, like usual I stupidly don't think and just ignore it. After dinner I finally think to myself, you know last time I ignored my conscious something went wrong. So I got up and checked up on them and heard no chirping, nothing. I looked underneath the trailer, where I kept them and saw my little yellow chick lie their, eyes closed. So I move the trailer and it was lying in the most uncomfortable position (upside down, legs spread open)! So quickly thought that something was wrong, I picked it up and saw an open rip on the inside of its right leg and a little blood spot under its wing (not sure which one). I tried to whistle and find the other, but no luck.
The black object must of been either a crow or a dark bird with my black chick in its mouth. I was so mad that I didn't listen to my conscious.
Now I might sound crazy, but my conscious sometimes tells me when something either went wrong or is going to go wrong.
Any ideas on what birds eat chicks?
Thanks in advance.
Eric
My two little baby chicks died......
Hawk! they come in all sizes! We have them here as big a barn owls and then we have tiny little hawks no bigger than a woodpecker!
sorry Eric! I know how it feels the first time you lose your chicks , it never gets easy! Yes you must listen to your intuition, sometimes it is our best friend!
Awwwww, that's so sad. Eric, I'm sorry to hear that.
I never seem to give flying predators much thought, as we don't notice them as often as the kind that are on the ground. They just seem to come out of no-where when least expected.
I'm sorry for your loss. Not only sad, but frustrating to get the little fuzzy chicks to a certain stage, and then lose them.
I'm sorry, seems like they have such a struggle to survive. We have hawks, eagles and falcons. It wouldn't surprise me if a large crow found a chick to be easy pickings. I see them at roadkill all the time.
I always put a tarp over my young ones when they would spend the afternoons outside.
~Julie
The sadist things about the entire incident is that I can't find the black chick, and that a few days ago I took off the yellow chicks brace, (had splayed feet) and its feet were exactly how I wanted them. It was their 2nd day out. I knew I should of kept a close watch on them. I really learned my lesson that day.
Eric