Hawk attack prevention ideas

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

My sweet Hamburg (Hamburger) was once again attacked by a hawk. The wounds are far deeper this time. I do not believe in locking my pets up, and I accept that I may lose one someday. I have a fenced 1.5 acres for them. They are all big girls except for Hamburger who is only about 4 pounds. I believe their only predators are hawks. If Hamburg was not so white and speckled and small, I don’t think we would have any troubles. Today I locked the roosters up because they were raping the old ladies that can barely walk. It left my girls unprotected! My ideas and questions are as follows:
-If I dye Hamburgers tail, and maybe her back, solid black, or any other color for that matter, is it safe? Do you think that would remove the huge waving hawk flag?
-If I put pinless peepers on my roosters (so that they will stop raping the old ladies) do you think they will still be able to see well enough to protect from hawks? I’m not thrilled with the peepers, but I believe them to be better than the stewpot.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[cmom]

When I first put up the netting I ran short so bought some cheap netting and thought it would probably deter aerial predators and it did for awhile. I had no issues with any hawks but did have an issue with an owl. It plowed right through the crappy netting and killed some birds. I moved the birds and set up a camera and put a new piece of netting up. The owl went through it again. I then bought some more of the good netting and put it up and the owl tried to go through it but got stuck. We managed to get it into a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it.

 

[Chickeroonie keeper]

I actually did a lot of research when selecting the breed I wanted, I found that African geese would work best for me because they are large, tend to be docile towards humans, but great protectors and aggressive towards threats like predators. Mine both ended up being male, they do have a loud honk that intimidates predators. The pic above is from when they were younger

 

[cmom]

Are geese difficult to raise? Can they share the same coop with 13 hens? I was debating on guinea fowl for predator alerting and have the same questions but also trying to find suitable overhead netting for protection.

I don't free range anymore due to losses from predators. I do have large covered pens for my birds and there are ways to entertain them. This is the netting I put over my pens and it works. I have had no issues. Good luck...
https://www.amazon.com/Aviary-Netti...keywords=aviary+netting&qid=1633183991&sr=8-7

 

[BabesDucks]

When I first put up the netting I ran short so bought some cheap netting and thought it would probably deter aerial predators and it did for awhile. I had no issues with any hawks but did have an issue with an owl. It plowed right through the crappy netting and killed some birds. I moved the birds and set up a camera and put a new piece of netting up. The owl went through it again. I then bought some more of the good netting and put it up and the owl tried to go through it but got stuck. We managed to get it into a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it.
View attachment 2853128View attachment 2853129View attachment 2853130

Don’t you hate how beautiful they are? It’s like I’m all sad about it and mad at the owl until I see how extravagant they are and then I’m not mad anymore. LOL

 

[McChooky]

You may have too many roosters but there's always the option of adding aprons to protect the hens backs .The peepers are not a good idea,they limit their vison making it easier for the predatos to catch them.

 

[Chickeroonie keeper]

I have two geese that live with my chickens and they do an excellent job at protecting from hawks. Even better than my Roos. There’s a hawk soaring in the sky? Boom, geese see it right away and alert the chickens, who all go running for cover. Not sure if you’d want to get geese, but I love my boys

 

[McChooky]

I have two geese that live with my chickens and they do an excellent job at protecting from hawks. Even better than my Roos. There’s a hawk soaring in the sky? Boom, geese see it right away and alert the chickens, who all go running for cover. Not sure if you’d want to get geese, but I love my boys

My neighbors geese kept everything ran off lol

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

You may have too many roosters but there's always the option of adding aprons to protect the hens backs .The peepers are not a good idea,they limit their vison making it easier for the predatos to catch them.

How do you have things set up? Are there any hiding areas ?

I do have too many roosters. 3 for only 13 girls. The roosters are all five months old. I am waiting for the new coop to be completed next week and then the roosters can have their own area. I don’t know what else to do with them! I imagine I will just let one hang out with the girls. Maybe I can rotate them? That probably doesn’t work though.

Most of our backyard is trees and shrubs. This attack happened under all of the apple trees! The previous attack, I saw the hawk swooping through the huge arborvitae‘s trying to get them. I read that the Cooper’s Hawk’s will fly under trees and everything to get them but that roosters can usually fight these smaller hawks off. That is if they are not locked up for being bad, and not wearing peepers…

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I have two geese that live with my chickens and they do an excellent job at protecting from hawks. Even better than my Roos. There’s a hawk soaring in the sky? Boom, geese see it right away and alert the chickens, who all go running for cover. Not sure if you’d want to get geese, but I love my boys

I have never thought of geese. Wouldn’t they need to have a pond?