# eeekkkkkk!!!!!!!!! OMG! You didn't tell me this!!!!!!



## Doggroomer812 (Apr 4, 2012)

Eeeek! so we occaisionally let the dogs eat their raw outside... especially if it is something stinky. We had some fresh bluegill, so my husband chopped them up for them.... And freaking vultures came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! No one told me this might happen! and we don't live in the country... definately suburbs!!!!


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

What!?! ACTUAL vultures!?!? I've only seen a real vulture in movies or zoos. We feed nearly all of Ania's meals outside, and have never noticed an increase in any kind of critter. I would freaking DIE if I saw a vulture out there. For realz. Birds scare the bejeezus out of me, and a vulture is the most birdiest of birds.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

We have TONS of vultures around where I live but they've never come down to "help" my dogs eat. They're big but really harmless so just tell them to go away and find their own roadkill!


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

We've got a few vultures too. No big deal, although if you've got a small dog maybe I'd think twice about that, but I don't know if they actually take prey themselves or if they just clean up after others.
But, they are here to do a job, and that is to clean up, and they do a bloody good job at it too. They don't hang round if you go up to them, I can attest to that. They really are quite cute if you stop and watch them doing what they do.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

That is quite scary. We only get hawks here but don't tend to see them in suburbia......mind you I would have been happy had one come down on Saturday when we were at the river and picked off the bloody stray male 'intact' bichon frise that followed us the whole walk and kept trying to shag the cavoodle I was looking after.

She didn't seem to mind though and thought it was great fun. He was smaller than her and seriously it looked like he had 5 legs with all the excitement.
Some kind strangers tried to grab him so we could make our getaway but he was a canny little bastard and kept jumping out of the way, god knows what happened to him and if I see him again with his human I will definitely have words.
One can really go off Bichons.
ps. loads and loads of them in my town.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Birds are natural when having food outside. 

If you don't like it don't feed outside.....or stay out with the dogs, and shoo them away.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

We didn't tell you because none of have this problem! Hahaha. 

We eave leftover bones out all the time. We have bones outside from a couple of weeks ago. We get crows, little birds, and the raccoons but we have never had anybody still in the backyard when we go out there. We leave the bones out for the animals to clean them off so they don't stink up the garbage when we finally throw them away. 

We've never had a critter problem. Vultures would be pretty cool. I keep hoping we'll get an eagle in the yard.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

My husband shot a couple of snakes that were breeding on the hillside behind my place. A couple of days later these huge turkey vultures swooped down to eat them. They were freaking HUGE. I had never seen them that close before. They did me a service really, cleaning up rotting snake carcasses. Nothing to worry about as they are scavengers. Harmless but freaky for sure.


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

I am in the country, I leave whole rib racks in my backyard all the time. Throughout the day I see Vultures circling looking for food. Never once have they landed any where near our back yard. This is not something that is common. You have some very bold birds, lol.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I find it amazing just what they can spot from the sky. They must have x-ray vision.


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## Deaf Dogs (Apr 10, 2012)

No Vultures, but... My Uncle used to feed whole raw chickens to his farm dog (he worked at a chicken farm and fed the roosters and chickens who died).... He had to stop as the wasps became so bad the kids couldn't even go outside!!! Not to mention, the coyotes trying to steal the dog's meals from her!

He doesn't do it anymore.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

We feed outside 75% of the time (except Annie, she takes too long to eat) and the worst we've attracted is a few flies!! I haven't ever seen vultures outside of the zoo before, but I can't help but think it would be kinda awesome. Unless they flew away with Griff, then it would suck. LOL


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Oh, we have the giant turkey vultures. They circle so low over the dogs eating sometimes that Rebel tries to jump up and attack them. They only eat dead things so I don't worry about them getting my dogs.

They also sit on our chimney and roost in an old barn behind the house. Rebel and I scared them one day (although they probably scared us more) and it was so weird seeing them thump and bump around like June bugs trying to get out of the barn. Kinda scary too since they are so large. And they definitely come close to the house. I don't throw any kind of meat over the fence, that's for sure, or we have a herd of them out there.

What DOES scare me are hawks. They have circled the dogs eating several times. Which is why I now sit out there with them - I am afraid one will dive on Snorkels.

But the vultures will circle at treetop level or lower. They are like rats around here; just all over the place.


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

I see Turkey Vultures a lot, but never in my backyard... always on the roadside eating roadkill...


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

CorgiPaws said:


> We feed outside 75% of the time (except Annie, she takes too long to eat) and the worst we've attracted is a few flies!! I haven't ever seen vultures outside of the zoo before, but I can't help but think it would be kinda awesome. Unless they flew away with Griff, then it would suck. LOL


Hahaha, I was thinking the same thing.....then Brody and Dixi both got taken out by the Collies playing as I was watching as I though "Oh sh**, it would be just my luck that one would take one of the munchkins!" LOL


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I think vultures are pretty neat. In California, even though we lived in the suburbs, we had vultures, hawks, coyotes, and all sorts of things. Our neighborhood backed up to the hills so it wasn't uncommon to walk outside and see four or five hawks circling WAAAY up in the sky. The coyotes would wander through the streets at night too. 

The hawks, especially, were bad. Hawks flying off with little dogs was not a rare thing in our neighborhood. Lots of people had small dogs and lots of people would leave them outside alone.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

xellil said:


> Oh, we have the giant turkey vultures. They circle so low over the dogs eating sometimes that Rebel tries to jump up and attack them. They only eat dead things so I don't worry about them getting my dogs.
> 
> They also sit on our chimney and roost in an old barn behind the house. Rebel and I scared them one day (although they probably scared us more) and it was so weird seeing them thump and bump around like June bugs trying to get out of the barn. Kinda scary too since they are so large. And they definitely come close to the house. I don't throw any kind of meat over the fence, that's for sure, or we have a herd of them out there.
> 
> ...


This is why I can not get a dog smaller than Sarge. I have hawks that constantly circle above me (I live high up on a hillside). I think Sargeant is JUST big enough that I don't have to worry. I am worried for any future chickens I get. I really wanted them to be able to run around on their own but the more I think about it, the more I am thinking chicken tractor or something fenced in and portable. Stupid hawks,. 

Birds have excellent eyesight.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

*that is AWESOME!!!*


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

wolfsnaps88 said:


> This is why I can not get a dog smaller than Sarge. I have hawks that constantly circle above me (I live high up on a hillside). I think Sargeant is JUST big enough that I don't have to worry. I am worried for any future chickens I get. I really wanted them to be able to run around on their own but the more I think about it, the more I am thinking chicken tractor or something fenced in and portable. Stupid hawks,.
> 
> Birds have excellent eyesight.


Yes, they can only carry off maybe 2 pounds or less but I'm sure a hawk could kill Snorkels. I could just put in a doggy door and leave them alone at the house but I can't because of the wild animals that could kill both her and Parker, mostly hawks but also owls - they are bigger than hawks, and coyotes although probably not in the daytime.

I'm getting chickens and they aren't going to be under anything because I want them to be all over the place eating grasshoppers but we have alot of tree cover and I'm hoping the hawks can't get them all at once. We'll see. I see chickens out in yards at other people's houses.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

From what I've seen hawks like to get chicks (usually the ones that are just about to shed their "fluff") more than the older birds. Of course, the chickens I have experience with are "old world" types. The ones that still have the "spurs" on their legs. Vultures don't bother me much, it's ravens that I find a bit scary.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

​Wow can't believe they would come that quickly.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Celt said:


> From what I've seen hawks like to get chicks (usually the ones that are just about to shed their "fluff") more than the older birds. Of course, the chickens I have experience with are "old world" types. The ones that still have the "spurs" on their legs. Vultures don't bother me much, it's ravens that I find a bit scary.


The one bird that totally gives me the creeps are the giant grackels with yellow eyes. I shouldn't consider them any more than just a bird, but those creepy eyes make me thing of something from a Stephen King novel.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

And yes, I do believe folks who do not live amongst the turkey vultures are missing out. They are gentle birds - they never kill anything. 

They are huge. The ones around my house have at least a six foot wingspan, and they often sit with their wings spread out for some reason. I found this photo - they aren't taking off or landing. They are just resting in the trees. It's what they do at my house only sometimes on top of the chimney.










In flight they are as graceful as any bird of prey and around my house they circle maybe 15 feet above my head so they look like silent airplanes. They are fascinating. The only ugly thing about them is their head, which has no feathers and is very tiny. 

And on the ground, they are NOT graceful. When Rebel and I rousted the three in the barn they were like the three stooges trying to get out.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

xellil said:


> The one bird that totally gives me the creeps are the giant grackels with yellow eyes. I shouldn't consider them any more than just a bird, but those creepy eyes make me thing of something from a Stephen King novel.











OMG!! I don't know why I thought I should google your freaky southern bird that I'd never heard of. But daaang! Those suckers ARE creepy! 

I'm going to stop reading this thread. My heart is racing, my lip is curled back, and I'm starting to panic. I'm going to have nightmares for sure tonight.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Vultures are neat! We get magpies sometimes trying to steal the dogs' meals. Tessie has caught a couple in mid-air which has warded them off somewhat. They still like to trap the cats under the deck, though.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Ania's Mommy said:


> View attachment 7185
> 
> 
> OMG!! I don't know why I thought I should google your freaky southern bird that I'd never heard of. But daaang! Those suckers ARE creepy!
> ...



AHH! That's it!!! I loathe those birds. And they are huge. I know what you were doing - you wanted to make sure someone else has nightmares! that would be me


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

I do what I can to share the wealth. 



Freaking birds....


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

I love all birds  turkey vultures are quite the beast!


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

No vultures here in the big city (that I know of), but there are hawks. 

I remember walking in Riverside Park once and seeing a small group of people looking up at a tree. When I got closer, I saw a hawk on a low branch ripping the guts out of a squirrel. 

And, no... I don't think small dogs would be safe from this hawk's appetite. Save for the leash. Maybe. 

Yeah. Nature is intense...


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Birds do not scare me. I had an evil parrot once. Talk about scary. 

Birds are amazing. SOme of them are so smart. Some of them are so beautiful. I really love birds. I think they are evolved dinosaurs. 

I went to this small petting zoo type thing and there was an emu there. You could feed the animals but no one would feed him because I guess he was scary. So I did










It's not like they have teeth. LOL. And he was inside a fence so he couldn't kick me. A little girl screamed and ran away from him. Makes me think of Xellil LMAO


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Oh, you're like me Wolfsnaps. I LOVE Emu's. When I took the other half to Oz, he would be cudding the kangaroo's (interestingly he looks like a kangaroo himself) and I would be over with the Emu's. And, no, they don't hurt at all when you feed them, if I had a farm I'd love to have a couple.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Doggroomer812 said:


> Eeeek! so we occaisionally let the dogs eat their raw outside... especially if it is something stinky. We had some fresh bluegill, so my husband chopped them up for them.... And freaking vultures came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! No one told me this might happen! and we don't live in the country... definately suburbs!!!!


You mean like these? We have lots of them here, and during deer season this year we had an issue with a few at our house.


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