do turkey vultures eat chickens

Do Turkey Vultures Eat Chickens?

Turkey vultures are a common sight in the skies above North America. With their large black wings and recognizable red heads, these scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by cleaning up carrion. But if you raise backyard chickens, you may wonder – do turkey vultures eat chickens too?

The short answer is yes, turkey vultures will eat chickens if given the opportunity. However, they do not typically hunt healthy adult chickens. Vultures prefer to eat carrion and usually only attack weak, sick, or very young poultry. So while turkey vultures pose a threat to baby chicks and vulnerable hens, healthy free-range chickens are generally safe from these scavengers.

Let’s take a closer look at the diet and behavior of turkey vultures to understand when they might prey on chickens. We’ll also discuss ways to protect your flock from these opportunistic hunters.

What Do Turkey Vultures Eat?

Turkey vultures are primarily scavengers In fact, unlike eagles, hawks, and other raptors, turkey vultures do not have strong talons for grabbing live prey Their beaks also lack the sharp hook used by other meat-eating birds to kill and tear flesh.

Instead, turkey vultures use their highly developed sense of smell to locate carcasses. They have specialized feathers around their nostrils that help focus scents toward their nose. Once a vulture detects the smell of decay, it can pinpoint the source from great distances.

At carcasses, turkey vultures use their powerful beaks to tear open tough hides and access the meat inside. They have very strong stomach acid that allows them to digest even diseased or rotten meat that could sicken other animals.

Turkey vultures eat a wide variety of carrion, including roadkill and animals that died from disease or injury. They play a vital cleanup role by disposing of dead carcasses before they can spread bacteria or attract other scavengers to populated areas.

Will Turkey Vultures Kill Chickens?

Although turkey vultures eat mostly carrion, they are opportunistic hunters and will sometimes kill animals perceived as easy prey. Very young, sick, or injured chickens are at risk of becoming turkey vulture food.

Newly hatched chicks are small, defenseless, and appeal to a vulture’s scavenging instincts. Young chicks exploring the great outdoors for the first time are also vulnerable. Vultures might not immediately recognize tiny peeping balls of fluff as prey, but once chicks venture further from their mother, they become targets.

Broody hens tending to a clutch of eggs or new hatchlings are fiercely protective. But a vulture could overwhelm a brooding hen separated from the rest of the flock.

Sick, lame, or injured adult chickens isolated from flockmates are also potential vulture victims. Even though healthy free-ranging hens present more of a challenge, vultures may test their luck with lone hens perceived as compromised.

On rare occasions, turkey vultures will attack healthy free-range chickens, especially bantam and lightweight breeds. Vultures generally avoid altercations with humans. But they may become emboldened living near farms with abundant small poultry.

How Do Turkey Vultures Kill Chickens?

Without the killing tools of true carnivorous raptors, how do turkey vultures dispatch poultry? They tend to land on a chicken’s back or head and peck aggressively at the face and eyes. The goal is to incapacitate the bird through blindness and shock.

Once the victim stops defending itself, the vulture has unrestricted access to begin feeding. Vultures will peck open the abdomen and eat the entrails first.

Turkey vultures usually feed alone on carrion but may hunt chickens in pairs or small groups. This mobbing behavior helps overwhelm panicked prey.

Protecting Your Flock from Vultures

The good news for backyard chicken keepers is that turkey vultures prefer not to tangle with humans. Making your presence known in the poultry pen is often enough to deter these timid scavengers.

Here are some other tips to make your flock less tempting to lurking vultures:

• Supervise young chicks and brooding hens. Do not leave babies unattended outdoors.

• House vulnerable chicks and hens in a fully enclosed coop and run. Cover runs with wire mesh to prevent entry from above.

• Keep sick or injured chickens separated from the flock until they recover.

• Discourage vultures from loitering and roosting around the coop area.

• Distribute feed over a wide area so birds aren’t concentrated in one spot.

• Provide shelter for chickens to escape under if threatened by an aerial attack.

• Deter vultures with loud noises, yelling, clapping, or chasing them away.

• Use reflective deterrents like pie pans, old CDs, or foil strips to scare off vultures.

• String wire, monofilament line, or cord across the run in a zigzag or grid pattern at various heights.

• Install motion-activated sprinklers, lighting, or sounds.

With some awareness and preventative measures, vultures don’t need to be an issue for backyard flocks. Taking steps to protect young, vulnerable and isolated chickens will go a long way in coexisting with these natural scavengers.

Of course, the turkey vulture’s innate behavior is not malicious against chickens specifically. As with other opportunistic predators, they simply recognize easy prey. While their dietary overlap with raisers of small poultry may cause occasional conflicts, turkey vultures provide an important wild function.