Protecting your chickens from predators in your backyard! - Page 5

Bald Eagle got one of our ducks as she was recuperating from a wounded leg. Trust me when I tell you its very hard to defend your birds against our nation's symbol!  We use raptor netting (not the kind they can get tangled in, though) and a really HUGE Cochin rooster.

Biggest problem here is loose dogs trying to rip down our wood fence or dig under it! Thankfully, we have three dogs who raise a hell of a lot of noise when that occurs (on a fairly regular basis, several times a month on average). Two Bassets and a Border Collie - you cannot believe the alarm THEY can make. I go running out with my gun and we begin the stare down. Most dogs will run off when they see a human with a shotgun thankfully. Animal control is nearly useless, given their limited hours and budget, we have ONE officer on our island and they only operate during daylight hours. After that, its the sheriff - they don't even carry leashes. They just shoot the dog. So basically, they'd prefer you do it. Saves on their budget. And drive. There's only two sheriff's officers on duty any shift on the island, one north and one south. *eye roll* Budget woes have hit our island hard.

One dog I literally bumped home with my truck. I knew where that SOB lived. Idiot owners went out of town for a month and left that aggressive dog home in the backyard with friends feeding and watering him. He ate his way through his own fence, then came for ours. He'd already bitten and menaced a few kids in the neighborhood. So I kept the hole in the fence blocked with our pickup until the sheriff showed up. You gotta love a small town - when I called it in (I'm the neighborhood watch co-captain along with hubby so we're KNOWN to dispatch!), the first question they asked was "are you armed, hon?". I said, "Yes, I'll leave it in the truck and step outside my vehicle!"  Dispatch laughed and said "no worries, we're sending you another Granger, they know you!"

You don't dare take a walk in our neighborhood without a sidearm the loose dog problem is so bad. We're at the point where we're telling our county commissioners we're not voting for them unless they are finally going to do something about it! 

In reply to the person asking about the skeleton scarecrows: They're made with gallon plastic milk jugs. Easy to make and they flutter about in the slightest breeze. I can't guarantee them, but I haven't seen a hawk since August of 2011.

I also have overturned boxes and buckets all over the chicken yard with just enough room for the hens to scurry under in case they're startled. They're a bother to mow around, but worth it to know the girls can dodge an attack if need be.

elsasmom- Thanks! I'm going to start collecting milk jugs.

(Hey, and I have that same bottle of wine you show in your profile pic! Who could resist that gorgeous rooster??)

@ JohnCV     "I dream of a better tomorrow..." I just had to to say, I freakin' LOVE your quote! Chicken Rights! Chicken Rights!

guineas are something! they are like dogs except louder lol

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by johncv 

i have guinea birds that protect my flock. i have not lost a single chick yet and let them free range during the day and sometimes at night. my guineas are my alarm system anything that is not normal they let me know right away and my chicks know to get inside the coop. my guineas will fight whatever comes on my property from snakes to hogs.

I have always heard the owl was a good idea but ive never tried it. I will now!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenBeeMom 

We have coyotes, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mostly a lot of rather irresponsible dog owners (free-range dogs? -ah no, folks), and hawks.  We're in the middle of a 160,000+ city.  Do we are not allowed to harm them (not my style anyway). 

Despite the rocky ground, we installed 6 inch vent wire around the full pen.

After my hawk attack, I bought a fake owl.  Seems to work.

 

Update: just a day after posting this, the hawk was back!  This time my ladies came out unharmed, and not as shocked.  A little meal worm treat and they are back to happy hen status.  But what I have learned is that I should probably move my owl around more frequently!

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-12 Chickens 

Hawks like bare branches and dead trees to perch on, so if the trees near your run are very leafy and don't have a lot of large branches, the hawks might not want to perch there(except during winter and fall, when the trees are bare). A hawk doesn't need a lot of space to capture prey; if they are perching on a branch, they can dive right down onto a chicken. What species of hawks to you have in your area? The most common ones you would have to watch out for are:

 

Cooper's Hawk- Medium size, long tail, grayish blue back and head and rusty striped underparts. During flight has a distinctive flight pattern--flaps its wings and glides repeated over and over

 

Red-Tailed Hawk-Large size, brown back, short, brick red tail, has brown speckled band around belly in adult and immature, has distinctive call "keeeyer!"

 

(any hawk of similar size you should watch out for also)

 

Interesting and helpful info. Wish I knew what type of hawks we have, but somehow I think it might be a red-tailed. I'm a pretty poor sometimes birder, so i should keep my eyes peeled and see if I can identify. Unfortunately we do have a large oak tree with some bare branches/stubs that I had pruned back last year to get more sun for my garden -- am hoping to prune back another 2 of those branches, but this would leave a large bare branch stub... might decide to pay the extra $$ and have the whole darn branch taken out after reading this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by applefalls 

I would love to see a plan for these skeletons! They are great scarecrows and very cute.  They work against hawks?

I found this online: http://www.thepartyanimal-blog.org/milk-jug-skeleton-fun-recycled-craft-decoration-halloween/

might be others too.

I love it -- can't wait to start collecting milk jugs from friends. Too bad we usually get our milk in glass returnable bottles.

I just put some chicken wire about 1 foot down and rocks around the entire thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuakerMom 

 

Interesting and helpful info. Wish I knew what type of hawks we have, but somehow I think it might be a red-tailed. I'm a pretty poor sometimes birder, so i should keep my eyes peeled and see if I can identify. Unfortunately we do have a large oak tree with some bare branches/stubs that I had pruned back last year to get more sun for my garden -- am hoping to prune back another 2 of those branches, but this would leave a large bare branch stub... might decide to pay the extra $$ and have the whole darn branch taken out after reading this.

 

It might be a good idea to watch the hawk activity before cutting down branches.  About how many times a day/week/month do you see hawks? I frequent the area near my chickens and have lots of big trees near there and rarely ever see hawks perch in them. If you frequent the area near your chickens, the hawks might want to find less human active areas. Just a suggestion....