Turkey vultures almost never attack chickens, but black vultures will. Black vultures are known to kill and feed on domestic fowl, and they do so by ganging up in groups and overwhelming smaller, weaker animals. If you keep backyard chickens in an area where black vultures are common, this is a real threat worth taking seriously.
Turkey Vultures vs. Black Vultures
The distinction between these two species is the most important thing to understand. Turkey vultures are scavengers that rely almost entirely on carrion. They rarely attack living prey, and when they do, it’s something very small and helpless. Your chickens are not a meaningful target for turkey vultures.
Black vultures are a different story. While they also feed primarily on carrion, they are significantly more aggressive and will hunt live animals. Black vultures are documented killing skunks, opossums, night-herons, leatherback turtle hatchlings, and livestock including young pigs, lambs, and calves. They also kill and feed on domestic poultry. They hunt in larger groups than turkey vultures and use their numbers to overwhelm animals that would otherwise be too large or defensive to take on.
Telling them apart is straightforward. Turkey vultures have red, featherless heads and hold their wings in a slight V-shape while soaring. Black vultures have dark gray, wrinkled heads and shorter tails, with silvery-white patches visible on the tips of their wings in flight.
How Black Vultures Attack
Black vultures target soft, vulnerable body parts first. They typically go for the eyes, tongue, and the lining of the mouth and rectal area. On livestock, they’re known to pluck out eyes, eat the tongues of newborn animals, and disembowel young or sick animals. The same tactics apply to chickens, which are far less able to defend themselves than a calf or piglet.
These attacks are group efforts. Black vultures use visual cues to locate food, and once a group identifies a target, they can drive away other predators and scavengers through sheer numbers and aggression. A lone chicken or a small flock with no overhead protection is especially vulnerable. Sick, injured, or very young birds are at highest risk, but healthy adult chickens can also be killed when vultures attack as a group.
Protecting Your Flock
The most reliable protection is physical: a covered run or enclosed coop that prevents vultures from reaching your birds. Unlike hawks, which are fast and agile, vultures are large and relatively clumsy. A simple overhead netting or wire mesh over your chicken run is highly effective. If your chickens free-range, providing covered shelters they can retreat to gives them a better chance, though it won’t eliminate the risk entirely.
Vulture effigies are one of the more unusual but well-documented deterrents. The USDA’s Wildlife Services program recommends hanging a vulture effigy (a fake or taxidermied vulture body) upside down with its wings outstretched, positioned where incoming vultures can see it. This mimics a dead vulture and signals danger to the flock. Place effigies near areas with the highest vulture activity, often identifiable by accumulations of droppings and feathers. Hang them as high as possible from a prominent branch or support structure, and make sure perching vultures can’t reach and damage the effigy. A fresh carcass works for up to three months, though artificial versions last longer and don’t smell.
Other deterrents include removing any food sources that attract vultures to your property in the first place. Compost piles with exposed meat scraps, dead animals left in fields, and unsecured garbage can all draw vultures to the area. Once they’re roosting nearby, your chickens become a target of opportunity.
Legal Restrictions on Killing Vultures
Both turkey vultures and black vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes it illegal to kill, capture, sell, or transport them without federal authorization. You cannot shoot a vulture that’s threatening your chickens without first obtaining a permit, even on your own property.
Getting that permit requires a specific process. First, you contact USDA Wildlife Services for a technical assistance evaluation. A biologist assesses the damage and determines whether lethal take is justified. If it is, the biologist issues a recommendation form, which you then submit along with a permit application and fee to your regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office. The permit specifies which species you can take, how many, what methods are allowed, and the dates and locations covered. The process isn’t instant, so non-lethal deterrents are your first and most practical line of defense.
Signs Vultures Are Targeting Your Property
Large groups of black vultures roosting in nearby trees are the most obvious warning sign. Look for whitewash (droppings) accumulating on branches, fences, or rooftops. Feathers on the ground near roosting sites are another indicator. If you notice vultures circling low over your property during the day and returning to the same trees at dusk, they’ve likely established a roost.
If you find a dead chicken with its eyes missing, its soft tissues eaten, or its abdomen opened, black vultures are a likely culprit. These injuries are characteristic of vulture depredation and look different from the kills left by dogs, raccoons, or hawks. Dogs tend to shake and maul, raccoons typically go for the head and crop, and hawks leave plucking sites with scattered feathers. Vultures leave a more surgically targeted pattern focused on eyes, tongues, and internal soft tissue.