Date: 11/8/25 10:32 am From: Clayton Will <willcfish...> Subject: Re: [ia-bird] Question/Observation Jasper County
Hi Chris, The decline in the number of hawks is directly related to the
Avian Flu but not by contracting the virus. They are not social birds
lilike so many that flock and feed together but generally relating to the
mate or a few mile area. I'd say it is directly related to the number of
confiements in your area. Confinement farms are aggressively killing birds
(primarily sparrows, starlings and pigeons). That said, a hawk is not
going to be ignored by hired hunters like I saw on their roll top bed cover
this summer with 30 pigeons leaving a confinement. Protecting the flock is
number one regardless of the environmental impact by poison that would more
directly impact raptors. I see why this is happening but there's not an
easy answer when it comes to prioritizing what's most important. Each group
sees it differently and a no win situation. Here is an overview of the
number of bird units in Jasper County I genereated by AI. Clayton Will,
Madrid..........The exact number of commercial chicken farms in Jasper
County, Iowa, is not publicly available as the data is withheld by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to avoid disclosing information for
individual operations. However, official data does show how many farms have
chicken inventory.
According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture for Jasper County:
- There were 3,925 farms with "layers" (hens raised for eggs). This
number represents farms with any amount of layers, from a few backyard
chickens to large commercial operations.
- There were 577 farms with "broilers and other meat-type chickens".
Iowa is a national leader in egg production, with nearly 58 million layers
across the entire state. While the specific commercial farm count for
Jasper County is private, the large number of farms with layers indicates a
significant poultry presence in the area.
On Sat, Nov 8, 2025, 10:07 'Christopher Knisley' via IA-BIRD <
<ia-bird...> wrote:
> I’m wondering if our Red-tailed Hawks have succumbed to either the avian
> flu or led poisoning. In the past 11 years I’ve lived in Jasper County I
> have never seen so few. Is this happening in other areas of the state too?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> Chris Knisley
> 611 Blake St.
> Colfax, IA. 50054-1708
> Cell (515) 556-6923
>
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