Raptors!!

Greetings everyone,
I find my self in a sort of dangerous situation. Birds of prey seem to be converging on my chicken coop, this is no exaggeration. i counted 10 different raptors checking out the pen from the surrounding trees, 5 different hawks(varying sizes) 2 HUGE Great horned owls, a large falcon and 2 others i could only I.D. as some type of large hawk.
My coop is invulnerable if not impregnable to all predators, 10ft x 12ft x 10ft high, solid 2 x 4 structure topped with galvanized steel sheet metal roof and hog wire running along bottom and buried in the ground so no digging. If you haven't guessed i have lost a flock before.
Outside the pen i use 16ft cattle panels to let them run around and get fresh grass, i let them run around only when i am outside to make sure the hawks wont try anything. Does anyone have a good and effective solution to keeping hawks away? i have been shooting at them with paint balls, nonlethal and perfectly legal. i have heard about CDs but i am not putting too much into that. i had the idea of making a scarecrow. Suggestions?

Skip the CD s for sure.
At this time of the season , food is scarce for the hawks. They still don't give up if they see a meal behind the fence. It is similar to peeps window shopping. They will soon move on as they may be migrating to different areas at this time. They need fuel and nutrition for their extended journeys. They do not necessarily migrate far, just to more desirable locations. Not sure how effective your paint ball operation is. I think that if you actually hit one and it was injured, you could be in trouble for it. .. If you could create a noise that would drive them away, I think it would be best.
You obviously want the raptors gone when you are out with your chickens free range. Understood clearly.

My brother is a game warden and i checked with him first just to be safe. He said try not to hit them but a paint ball wont hurt a large hawk. Just the loud pop of the gun, as you mentioned noise wise, is effective at running them off. I was actually thinking of dry firing a paint ball gun, it makes a LOT of noise this way and it has scared the owls off. I am in north east florida so the raptors here never go far for long lol

I think someone else has a scarecrow and it works for their hawk problem. I would make sure you can move it from time to time.

Noise does very little to deter a hawk unless it is very loud at least not around here. I had one hanging around and shot in its direction but not at it with a shotgun it flew 30 feet and sat in a different tree, then I got out a rifle which is substantially larger and shot again and that made it leave in a hurry though I'm not convinced it will be a permanent fix. Owls are a tough one they're around here all the time at night, I see them as I come and go, I had one on the roof of my house when I came home Halloween night. The chickens are indoors at night but they're vulnerable if they come out to early in the morning. I have stopped free ranging them for the time being, fall is the worse time around here for hawks and owls

I wouldn't trust anything except keeping them under cover as with your coop/run.

If you could find a way to put netting over your outside hog panel area, that should work.

i think i will try the scarecrow idea. "blucoondawg" owls here are aggressive, they land on the coop, claw at the door and dance on the metal roof. My coop is closed every night with a vertical sliding door, designed to keep every thing out. any suggestions on a good place to get that top netting for over pens? i need about 600 feet of it

Krieger11 said:

i think i will try the scarecrow idea. "blucoondawg" owls here are aggressive, they land on the coop, claw at the door and dance on the metal roof. My coop is closed every night with a vertical sliding door, designed to keep every thing out. any suggestions on a good place to get that top netting for over pens? i need about 600 feet of it

Click to expand...

Try looking into 'Poultry' or 'Aviary' netting on Amazon, Ebay.
I had a tree to use in the middle of mine, but I've seen people set 4x4 posts and secure an overturned flower pot base on top to drape the netting over.
You can also use coated wire strung from the post to the walls of the run to help support the netting.


I found this thread helpful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905100/aviary-netting

I use this netting. It can be cut and spliced together. 2x2" means most leaves fell through, or just blew off.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001W2AG2M

I got the 2x2 netting from amazon I ordered a smaller piece and it was quite reasonable, they sell different sizes

i was thinking about the 50' X 50' because i have a fenced off section of 50'X50' i used for goats with a 7' fence. might be my next investment.