Best guard animal against hawks (besides dogs)???

I was at my friend's place and he keeps large game chickens and I saw a large hawk over head , and I asked him if that hawk is a problem for his birds. He laughed and pointed to one of his big mean game rooster in the cage ,and said "One time that rooster came out and almost killed that hawk ". That big hawk is scared of the game rooster after only one fight . He lives near the airport and there is a lot of hawks in the area, and they all know not to mess with his chickens because of the game roosters. I think the reason that the hawk survived, is because the rooster's big long spurs was removed.

We have Guineans and on was eaten by a hawks along with 2 other chickens

CrazyChcknChick said:

My son and his buddy were up in the early morning hours (on a Saturday!!) because I mentioned that I've seen an owl roosting in one of the pine trees in our yard..alas, no luck.  I doubt highly that they could've hit it anyhow, as I didn't allow him to bring out more than his BB gun..I'm well aware that it's illegal to shoot owls.  I just wish the stupid thing would find another tree!  It's ginormous..bigger than the red tailed hawks that I've seen around here.

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We asked our game warden about it and he said it was fine ONLY IF they were continually attacking your property (poultry included)

angidee said:

Shelter boxes are absolutely on the list for protection this week!!
I am going to be adding Anconas to my flock. I am researching peafowl and guineas to see if they will be joining our flock. @Crazychcknchick

Are you ever on the west side of the mountains, I may be interested in splitting an order!

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We ordered 15 (the minimum) and all arrived healthy, alert, and active. One of the best poultry order I ever made.

angidee said:

I would love to hear any suggestions on the best guard animals for my chickens against hawks and eagles, not including dogs.
I found a range of ideas in a google search, but want to hear some actual successful suggestions. Some of the google search suggestions are guineas, alpacas, donkeys, llamas, roosters, and geese. I don't know if they will specifically be good for chicken guardians or specifically good against hawks.

What are your thoughts????

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By definition a guard animal needs to wade right in and mix it up, fight in other words. An alarm animal is the Paul Reviver of the animal kingdom who spreads the alarm to every Middlesex village and farm, that a threat has been detected. You then become the last ditch defense. Here is a life and death struggle between a falcon that weighs from 1.1 pound for the males to about 2.5 pounds or 1.13 Kilograms for the females, and a Canadian Goose of unknown sexual orientation at about 10 pounds or 5.5 Kg. You decide for yourself if a goose is an effective deterrent against bird eating raptors. Like everything else in nature your actual gas mileage may very.

ducksinarow said:

Shooting owls and hawks is a FELONY. Punishable with prison time and or fines. Try another means.

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Yes, it is a felony to even harass a raptor, so what ever the game warden decides that harassment is, is therefor illegal. But do remember that the catching comes afore the hanging.

I heard that turkeys and geese are good guard animals - but I am absolutely terrified of geese. Haha.

I have a rooster and he has been doing a pretty good job himself! Then again, I also have a protective netting over the entire run of the chicken pen and coop.

Just a note about geese - they're better deterrents/alarms than guardians, but they behave very differently in packs than they do as a single. I've got 4 (2m2f) Sebastapol geese roaming and they're way more aggressive than when they were (1m1f) - they're also significantly larger than a Canada goose.I think that goose/falcon thing would have gone very differently with my 4 geese (actually I think it wouldn't have happened at all) - the falcon's maneuverability advantage goes away when it's 4-on-1. (Geese are also very social, and keeping just one is a bad idea IMO)

That being said, geese aren't going to help against coyotes or an eagle - or some dogs. My dog is terrified of the goose mafia, but that doesn't mean the dog down the street will be.

CrazyTalk said:

Just a note about geese - they're better deterrents/alarms than guardians, but they behave very differently in packs than they do as a single. I've got 4 (2m2f) Sebastapol geese roaming and they're way more aggressive than when they were (1m1f) - they're also significantly larger than a Canada goose.I think that goose/falcon thing would have gone very differently with my 4 geese (actually I think it wouldn't have happened at all) - the falcon's maneuverability advantage goes away when it's 4-on-1. (Geese are also very social, and keeping just one is a bad idea IMO)

That being said, geese aren't going to help against coyotes or an eagle - or some dogs. My dog is terrified of the goose mafia, but that doesn't mean the dog down the street will be.

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Thank you for that information! I'll have to keep a note of that. I'm still terrified of having geese because I heard they can be so nasty. (Then again they say that about roosters and I have a very docile rooster; I got lucky for it being my first roo!)

I have a single Bourbon Red tom who is less than a year old and was raised with my chicks this summer. He is the smartest of the bunch when it comes to predators in general, but only serves as a warning system. He is the first to send a warning call and run for shelter at the sight of a hawk. The chickens do listen to him but he is neither a deterrent or a protector. I have lost 6 chickens to hawks in the past three months. Actually 5 to one juvenile Red Tail and one to a pair of Peregrine falcons. The Peregrine's attack came after the juvenile's and I do not know if they are residential or passing through. The juvenile Red Tail has moved on. One particular day I noticed that the chickens were no where to be seen and the turkey was pacing and doing his warning peep in my all wire brooder coop in the barn drive. The turkey was only about 4 months old and had not even gobbled yet. I walked out to the barn and found the juvenile hawk under the steps in our barn eating my Dominique rooster only 8 foot away from my turkey. The rest of the chickens were in the stall behind the brooder. Upon further inspection I found turkey, rooster and hawk feathers in a path from the field leading into the barn. It was about 30 feet from the start of the feather path to the place that the hawk was eating the rooster. The turkey had a bald patch on his back towards the tail but no blood or wounds. I suspect that the hawk attacked the turkey and the rooster stepped in. My Dominiques come from a local breeder who sourced their stock from a breeder in Alabama. I am not sure what lines they are and they are not exactly show quality but they are closer to SOP than any of the hatchery stock I have seen and they are very hardy. Since my turkey was only 8 foot from the hawk and was not attempting any aggressive behavior I don't believe the turkey would ever protect my chickens from a predator. He is more concerned with saving himself. This could change when he has his own hen but I doubt it since turkeys do not co-parent. I do however think that certain roosters, like mine, will protect the flock and quite possibly loose their life in doing so. Its possible that the hawk just tried to attack both the rooster and the turkey but I highly doubt it since both were my largest birds and both could readily fly. Needless to say I will be buying multiple Dominique roosters from the local breeder this Spring. I also like Geese so I will be getting at least 3(Embden) this summer as an additional warning system but I would not rely on them for protection. Another precaution I plan on doing is making low to the ground cover for the poultry in my field that is wide open right now. I plan to use cinder blocks and scrap pallets. I will probably space them every 30 feet or so.

We have a pair of Red tails who return to a nest directly across the road each year in the Spring but they leave in the fall after they "wean" their babies. This pair readily hunts our property but I am not sure if they will be a regular threat to our chickens or not as this summer was the first time we have had chickens in years. The Red Tail pair usually has 1 to 3 babies in a clutch and we always know when the "weaning" has begun because there is a lot of crying going on from the hungry juvenile's. This is the stage that the lone juvenile was in when we lost 5 birds to him this fall. He came back daily over the course of three weeks and got 5 birds in that time period. I believe he became a bit dependent on the easy meal of my chickens and did not actively hunt wildlife. When we kept chickens years ago we had a pair of Red Tails(possibly the same pair) that were residential and they maybe took one bird every 6 months. This amount of loss was acceptable to us in exchange for having free range chickens. When the juvenile started taking a few birds per week this year I had to confine chickens when they could not be supervised. This is not how I like keeping chickens so hawk solutions are being researched constantly. The pair we had years ago kept any new hawks from hunting our farm and we appreciated them for that and I do not ever remember having any trouble with their offspring either. I'm hoping a pair such as that moves in again or that it is the same pair and their single offspring this year was a fluke.

On another note, in my area goats and miniature horses do not deter hawks in the least bit. We have had goats for years and have had miniature horses and full sized horses off and on. Currently we only have two goats and two miniatures. Our neighbor has a herd of miniature horses and miniature donkeys that numbers anywhere from 30 to 50 as well as full size horses, camels, various dogs, zebra and water buffalo. Our other neighbor has cattle adjoining our property. None of these animals deter the hawks. The chickens will hang around the goats, even ridding their backs, after a hawk sighting but the goats and horses really wouldn't stop or deter an attack if the hawks are used to them.

I would love to run a game rooster with my flock but I am going to breed for purebred eggs so I would have to house roosters separately all times of the year and currently that is too much hassle.