Hawks eating my chickens Please Help!!

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I had a hawk attack today, my first, it got one of my 9 week old pullets (a columbian rock) and she wasn't dead, but was beyond my ability to care for, I bungled putting her down too, them got dizzy, and had to go inside. I'm going to have to go bak out right away, the others need water, and I need to deal with her, I'm thinking I will burn the body, as I don't think I can bring myself to process her, And trust the meat is still safe.
 
So sorry for your loss; it's the trade-of when we free range our birds. I lost two bamtam babies this week, probably to a hawk. Ugh!!! My flock is locked down for at least a week or two, and then the young birds will be a few more weeks. By then the culprit will hopefully have moved on
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You can't beat a good pair of mutts or good LGDs for flock protection. I have had over 50 birds on 2 cleared acres this year. I've seen all manner of preds or evidence of them around. A family of 3 coopers & a red-tailed seen this summer above my property & my larger dog saw them & ran barking after them. The hawks move on. They never get a closer look. I have 16 more acres of woods & brush. I have had 0 losses this year. We are very lucky to have these dogs. They have very protective instincts. The trick is to find one dog that won't kill your chickens, then getting a second dog later, that the first one will train. My 35lb older dog is a beagle x Boston terrier. Other is a 20lb pug cross. They both chase off all manner of preds. I've been amazed when seeing them in action.

Sorry for your losses. It's gut wrenching to see that. I've had my share before. If dogs not an option, I would look into that permit. Best of luck!
 
I agree with the above, Dog helps a lot, but the best bet is cover your run, get rolls of plastic netting and zip strip them across the top, you will need to brace if you have snow, we used 2x4s, and DH put up 4x4s spaced 4or5ft apart from th ground up and attached cross supports of 2x4 to those, we have a very large run also. even if you do a little at a time it is worth it. we bought rolls of heavy plastic netting and zip tied them together then heavy stapled them to the cross beams on the outside of the run,
we have had a hawk sit ontop of the run, checking out the birds. but he couldn't get in and left.
 
I don't really have any advice but I live in Union City which is pretty densely populated and today I saw the biggest Hawk (or maybe Eagle) I have ever seen sitting on the edge of the Palisades eating a HUGE chicken! Sorry for your loss but boy was it a weird site a block from the Lincoln Tunnel.
 
You can buy 400 square feet of bird netting from Lowes for about $20.00. If that isn't enough, you can zip tie it together, or wire it together. All you need to stop hawks is to stop them from swooping in.

I know another OP that uses fireworks, when the hawks are out.

Personally I prefer the netting.
 

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