Hawk trouble

Early in the month of December 2009 we started having a problem with a hawk killing our chickens. Now usually the hawks are only a problem if the ground is covered in snow & it's been a hard winter and usually it's toward the end of winter not the beginning. Another oddity is that this hawk was not the usual Red Tailed but likely a Pigeon Hawk. Well, this hawk apparently decided he was hungry and a chicken would do just fine, thank you.

So...I went out to the 'horse barn' about 4 /4:30 one evening in early December to close up the chickens in that barn so they would be safe during the night from such creatures as: coyote, fox, weasel, skunk, racoon, etc and to my surprise I see a hawk eating one of my beautiful Buff Orpington hens. He must have just killed her b/c he really didn't get to eat much when I startled him & he flew off. I was kind of mad at myself for scaring him off b/c this just meant that he'd be back for another b/c he was still hungry. 2 days later sure enough the hawk had come back & killed and ate one of our Plymouth Barred Rock hens. The next day I was on alert watching for him to return....coincidentally I was outside by the egg layers coop doing my late morning chores & all of a sudden w/in 20 ft of me he swooped down and attacked a Black Star hen. She started screaming & managed to pull away from him. She headed into the barn for cover and he followed right behind her. They both flew right past me @ 5 feet away. I followed them into the barn yelling all the while at the hawk to "get out of here!"....he of course ignored me....the hen found a safe spot to hide and then (this is the funny part of the story) the hawk got stuck between the wall & a piece of wood. I walked up to him and when I saw he was stuck I figured I'd teach him a lesson and took off my work glove & started smacking him on the back w/ it! I probably hit him 4 or 5 times and then he got himself free and flew away.

Guess what?! He hasn't been back since! And the hen is just fine....missing a few tail feathers is all.