[Prod]

We live up in the Brecon hills, very rural, and have noticed a number of large birds of prey hovering over the valley a mile or two further down from us us which seems to be their territory.  In the last couple of days (and minutes in fact) one  of them has taken to perching on the telegraph pole opposite my field where the girls freerange.   Should I be worried and if so is there anything I can do???  We do also get a lot of wild birds including turtle doves  which now land in the field looking for seed.  cheers

[Snoop]

Two of our fairly sizeable cats have suffered buzzard attacks and have scars a couple of years on from being lifted off the ground. Hens would probably be quite easy in comparison. Our cats now take cover when there are big birds overhead and our hens are also alert to these predators.

Do you have anywhere your hens could take cover in the field?

[tosca100]

Generally both species will take small prey, Kites will take a small rabbit or hare, nestlings and worms and rodents. Similar for buzzards, who will take game birds up to about 500g. Both species eat a lot of carrion.

I suppose a chook would be an easy target, but where you live there is plenty of natural prey, and further west there are feeding stations for kites.

There have been posts about this before though, so if you do a search you might find out more.

[Prod]

Yes they have lots of shelter. There are bushes and hedges plus I have boxed in 2 sides of their coop which is raised. I also leave the shed door open and have built a shelter to the rear of the shed mainly for when it is raining but they used it in the hot weather too. I have a cockerel and he seems to really look out for the girls.  I guesss you just get too protective of them  and close up these birds of prey look fearfully big, although stunning too.  Thanks

[Sassy]

We have red kite come over and our chooks automatically take cover. It seems to be instinctive as I have never trained them

[jhub]

Sassy, the image of you trying to train chickens made me laugh.

[helens-hens]

Quite surprisingly we even have buzzards in the area of Cardiff where I live. The hens are very, very observant, usually spotting potential danger well before I ever could and then going for cover if necessary.

One of my hens makes a quiet growling noise when she spots danger

[SusieB]

One of my hens makes a similar low growling sound.  I look up when she does it, and sure as eggs are eggs, the local heron will be flying over.

[Snoop]

Sassy, the image of you trying to train chickens made me laugh.

Actually, and to my own astonishment, I'm pretty sure one of my hens recognises her name. Certainly she comes when I call... Maybe it's just the tone of voice, but she doesn't always come when I call the flock in. If I call her name, it's usually because I have a beetle or locust for her. Being the elderly dame in the coop, she gets special privileges and only her name gets called then.