Hawks! How can I keep the hawks away from my chickens?

[puckpuck8]

For two years I free ranged the four hens until the third year when one hen almost got snatched up by a large red tail. After that, the chickens realized they need to watch out for hawks besides foraging for bugs. I have been letting the hens out with supervision and the hawks so far have not bother the hens. It is a pain in the butt, sometimes the hens don't want to go back into the covered pen until close to sunset. Basically like young kids on a summer day of playing outside.

 

[puckpuck8]

I am looking into building my own night guard type red lights to keep coyotes away. There some circuit diagrams available to make your own devices.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The only solution to such a bold hunter is to fence the tops of your pen....

You could fence the hawk in rather than fence the hawk out. A small hole in the ground with 2 feet of dirt above the hawk is an effective barrier. Just don't tell anyone or let them see you rehome the hawk.

 

[puckpuck8]

You could fence the hawk in rather than fence the hawk out. A small hole in the ground with 2 feet of dirt above the hawk is an effective barrier. Just don't tell anyone or let them see you rehome the hawk.

Let us know how it works for you, the rest of us can learn from your experience, thank you for your suggestion.

 

[Sylvester017]

I've been catching up on this hawk thread -- hope you all are finding successful solutions. One theme I noticed in reading here is that open spaces that block a hawk's aerial predatory flight pattern works some wonders. No guarantee that hawks won't find a way to get at hens but hawks' preference is to swoop down on running or grazing prey and kill/grab with their talons. We obstructed our open backyard with a couple of patio add-ons to the house and a couple of pop-up canopies which offer shade to the hens and obstruct hawk flight patterns. We have 5 large dog houses and a couple of low lean-to's and some foliage and lawn furniture too for hiding.

Hawks are amazing flyers so there's never a 100% guarantee but so far in 7 years I haven't lost any little Silkies or larger hens to hawks. The other week a Cooper's Hawk kept visiting my 5 hens by watching them from the top of our backyard fence and while the girls were hiding under their coop fortress pen s/he dove down at them and knocked itself out when it hit the durable sturdy dog kennel wall (coop & kennel pic below). If my girls aren't hiding behind a sturdy kennel wall, they'll hide in our fallow garden beds under old dying vines where the hawk can't swoop down on them and where they can dig for bugs and take dust baths while feeling somewhat safe from aerial predators. During the height of our new spring garden bed growing we cover new seedlings from the chickens, so then they use the dust bed under the canopy for their baths.

Our backyard isn't the most beautiful but everything we do is for those sweet hens. We increased our flock from 3 to 5 hens now so there's a better alert watch with more hens. I love having pets that give us breakfast eggs and where we don't have to worry about picking up pet poops. Their poop provides us with garden fertilizer.

 

[Molpet]

I am looking into building my own night guard type red lights to keep coyotes away. There some circuit diagrams available to make your own devices.

you have to move them every couple of days.. I have 2 and with the snow I haven't been moving them.. one is knocked down and coyote tracks in the snow to it.

 

[JS1977]

Great thread with lots of good suggestions! I have five free range hens right now, and eight chicks that are only about 4 weeks old. There are hawks hanging around at the house next door to me and they circle over my yard quite a bit. I have a run for my hens that is covered so they can dash in there in the event they need a quick escape. They also have a large shed that is raised off the ground so they can hide under it if needed. I'm thinking of planting a large bush or some type of tree that they can also hide under.

 

[Sylvester017]

Great thread with lots of good suggestions! I have five free range hens right now, and eight chicks that are only about 4 weeks old. There are hawks hanging around at the house next door to me and they circle over my yard quite a bit. I have a run for my hens that is covered so they can dash in there in the event they need a quick escape. They also have a large shed that is raised off the ground so they can hide under it if needed. I'm thinking of planting a large bush or some type of tree that they can also hide under.

Plants are a great protection for chickens. The thicker the leaves or the thornier the bush all the better. I had an old climbing rose bush and my first 3 chickens loved to sit under it as shade and protection from the aerial predators. Don't bother with planting a tree since it will attract hawks, raccoons, unwanted wild birds that will eat your chicken feed, but instead opt for some sort of thorny or evergreen bushes -- they will look nice and cover more area than one large messy shedding tree. 6 of us adjoining neighbors got rid of our old trees completely and we've had less problems with squirrels, raccoons, possums, rats, hawks, or wild bird nests. JMHO.

 

[Sylvester017]

P.S. Before choosing plants/bushes for the chickens do a Google search for Safe vs Toxic Plants for chickens. Chickens usually are good about not ingesting harmful weeds or leaves of plants but just to be safe choose safe vegetation for the chicken yard.

 

[DuckingLost]

We see hawks and eagles picking up mice and rabbits from a field out back. Really worries me when it's time to put my chickens outside.