Also this, before federal protection, (1972) hawks were aggressively managed at the county level in quite a few states. A bounty was placed on them. Bring in a set of feet and you'd get a buck or two. Hawks, owls, gophers and ground squirrels were a good source of income for farm kids in the mid west. Not to mention the hawks were shot on sight by most farmers or their wives, protecting the chickens. There were a lot more people living in the country then, a lot more. All with a vested interest in those chickens! Now only a few live on the land there. They mostly get their chicken same as those that live in town, at the store.
