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

[quail arizona]

Could be a peregrine falcon

 

[esme13]

It's interesting you mention the coopers hawk, because that was the one that came really close to us in our yard with the girls out. I was told by birders that the hawk that takes chicken the most is the cooper hawk also known as the chicken hawk. I've had the redtails around but hopefully they wont get the girls.

 

[Sylvester017]

We have a couple of hawks that frequently fly over our property, and sometimes actually land on the kids swing set. We have Coopers, Sharp Shinned, Broad Wing hawks and even Eagles. It seems to be the Coopers hawks that are persistant in trying to get to our hens. They swoop down at them and chase them until the hens take cover under something. I have even witnessed a hawk chasing them down, feet first and half side-ways trying to grab them under the ornamental grass.

Right now I have a person sized scarecrow with a plastic pumpkin head with sharp pointy teeth out in the yard. I move it around. So far-so good. I'm not holding my breath that it will work forever. But for now it is. My husband just bought those balloons with the huge predator eyes. We are going to try those.

Our hens aren't small. The smallest are the Dominiques. They seem to focus on them.

Two days ago, I found a 5 ft black racer snake in my nest boxes in my chicken coop. It was peeking over the partition at a BO hen that has gone broody (again..), She was sitting on an egg in the next box over. They were looking at one another, eye to eye. I grabbed the snake and pulled it out. I carried it off. I hope that it will find some mice to eat and forget about the eggs in the coop. But I'm not going kid myself. It'll be much easier to eat eggs than to chase it's meal down. We have no other openings in the coop other than the automatic hen door. I think that it got in the run and gained entrance into the coop when the door opened for the day. Now....how do you keep snakes out of your coop?

People on the BYC thread "post your chicken coop pictures here" say that 1/2-inch hardwire keeps out small rodents and snakes out of a run but I free range my hens and the coop pop door is open all day and if someone's pet boa or python escapes in the neighborhood my coop would be vulnerable like yours is. I guess all we can do is to check the coop well every day. We open ours up everyday to clean up the nestboxes and collect eggs anyway. Keep us updated on the scarecrow and if the predator-eyes balloons work or not. Seems like a silly solution but if it works I'll use it to scare the darned wild sparrows and doves! I'm tired of the buggers using my vegetable plants to hide and poop in! We got tired of finding their poops in the chicken water so we invested in a couple Brite Tap nipple valve waterers and the wildlife can't dirty the water any more!

How nice that you have Doms. Ours died before POL so we never got to know how she'd fit in our backyard flock but we absolutely loved her active outgoing friendly curious personality. We have a gentle-breeds flock now and aren't sure how a Dom would fit in. They are a sweet human-friendly bird but never got to find out how a Dom would behave with Silkies and Ameraucanas (not EE) and we're adding a Breda pullet next week. We were sent a Breda cockerel on accident and loved him so much. We had to re-home him with friends but he was so much like a Dominique in outgoing unafraid friendliness that we decided to go with a Breda pullet. A Dom owner thought the Doms might not be good to mix with Silkies in the flock so I'm still wondering. I'm also considering an Orloff and Pavlovskaja but have no experience with either and have been asking a lot of questions about them. They seem like timid birds and I need predator-savvy breeds because of the free-ranging backyard. I know Favies are gentle birds but the feedback is that they are not very predator-savvy or alert.

What are your breeds?

 

[Sylvester017]

It's interesting you mention the coopers hawk, because that was the one that came really close to us in our yard with the girls out. I was told by birders that the hawk that takes chicken the most is the cooper hawk also known as the chicken hawk. I've had the redtails around but hopefully they wont get the girls.

I saw a youtube video of a Cooper's Hawk that got inside a pen of chickens and the roos were aggressive to go after him. Cooper's aren't very big around here, the females are slightly larger than males, so I was surprised to learn that Cooper's are also called Chicken hawks because they aren't big like Red-taileds or owls. A couple larger-breed angry roos could probably give a Cooper's a good standoff. The hens will hide from hawks but the roos are brave little buggers. When I realized hawks like to swoop down on prey we made our backyard less open because we aren't zoned to keep roos for flock defense. We have a popup canopy, several recycled doghouses, plywood shelters mounted on cinderblocks, shrubs and bushes and vegetable garden boxes of varying plant heights so swooping in our yard is not easy for hawks. They perch on the fence or land on the ground but they absolutely will not go after our hiding hens and a couple of our birds are little 2-lb Silkies. When we had our Leghorn and Marans they would huddle under the stickery rosebush tree when the Cooper's would perch in our patio and he/she never went after the hens. We did everything we could to our backyard to do away with a wide sprawling open lawn and have a lot of cover instead. It wasn't pretty to look at when we started but are slowly replacing with more attractive plants and new coop house. We've been at it for 4 years and never stop working on it. Hey, it keeps me active and moving!

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

We use single wires, spaced 12" apart in a square pattern as the cover of the run, this keeps the Red Tailed, Cooper's, and Harris hawks at bay. We also have Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles that hunt our area. We do free range the chooks but they have several areas of protection to flee to as well as being able to get back in the run if they are close.

Our mind set is that since we are free ranging our chooks, we will have a loss now and then. For us it is not a problem but more of a natural order of things situation.

 

[Sylvester017]

We use single wires, spaced 12" apart in a square pattern as the cover of the run, this keeps the Red Tailed, Cooper's, and Harris hawks at bay. We also have Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles that hunt our area. We do free range the chooks but they have several areas of protection to flee to as well as being able to get back in the run if they are close.

Our mind set is that since we are free ranging our chooks, we will have a loss now and then. For us it is not a problem but more of a natural order of things situation.

Yes, there is always risk in keeping poultry whether free-ranged or penned. There are just too many predators from small reptilians to rodents to large wildlife and aerial predators - and that's not counting the parasites and myriad of diseases poultry get exposed to for which there are no vaccinations or "cures." Surprisingly we find aerial predator deterrents easier than ground predator deterrents. With aerials there are ways to provide many shelters and less open spaces for flying talons. The night critters like raccoons or 'possums are deterred by a very sturdy secured coop.

However, I find the daytime ground predators the most worrisome - in rural areas that is probably cougars, bobcats, lynx, coyotes or foxes, but for us city dwellers it's loose neighborhood dogs, stray or feral cats. My little flock will enmasse attack/chase out the neighborhood or feral cat that manages to get into the yard but the occasional loose German Shepherd or pack of male dogs chasing a female in season are a bother. We are removing our chainlink fence to put up block walls and iron gates since we had a couple stray mutts break down our fence gate to attack our very first little coop - we have since invested in a larger sturdier housing. A good neighbor chased off the stray mutts and the incident made us realize there's no such thing as "secure enough" where chickens are concerned.

 

[dwcrwr]

Get bigger chickens. I've talked to someone who's Jersey Giant rooster attacked a hawk in the air. I saw the rooster and wonder if a dog would want to tangle with him; he was truly GIANT.
We have a multitude of hawks and have had two bald eagles perched in a pine behind the house. I've never lost a full sized bird to an air attack. I know that eagles could take my fat pug, so ANY chicken would be easy pickings, but I've only known people to lose banties to hawks.
One tip that I've read is that hawks are more likely to go after chickens when they are migrating in spring and fall.

 

[keesmom]

Get bigger chickens. I've talked to someone who's Jersey Giant rooster attacked a hawk in the air. I saw the rooster and wonder if a dog would want to tangle with him; he was truly GIANT.
We have a multitude of hawks and have had two bald eagles perched in a pine behind the house. I've never lost a full sized bird to an air attack. I know that eagles could take my fat pug, so ANY chicken would be easy pickings, but I've only known people to lose banties to hawks.
One tip that I've read is that hawks are more likely to go after chickens when they are migrating in spring and fall.

I guess it depends on where you are, what species of raptors you have and how determined they are. I have lost more adult large fowl birds to hawks than any other predator. A young Cooper's hawk took out my 10 lb Wyandotte rooster with some well placed talons through the skull one Feb. a few years ago. That one was even bold enough to chase the hens through their 18"x18" pop door into the coop. Cooper's and goshawks are our main problems. A goshawk even fought it's way through some fencing 2 weeks ago to get at a few juveniles. I assume it was the same one that completely removed the tail feathers from one rooster last fall. Found that hawk on the deck stairs just waiting for a chicken to break cover. At least the yard isn't open enough for redtails or eagles to do any damage.

Coyotes still hold the record for the most losses at one time though.

 

[Naliez]

I had 2 of these guys watching us today.

 

[dwcrwr]

I fully believe you keesmom! I know that hawks can take chickens. I have an abundance of them here. 1/4 mile from me someone rehabs injured raptors and looses them on their property when they are well. Perhaps my good fortune is based on having hawks that aren't 100% or are the evolutionary weakest link of the species.
When I moved here, I fully expected to lose chickens to predators (opposum, coon, weasle, bobcat, coyote, hawk, eagle, black bear); which brings up one tactic for dealing with them.
I planted enough blueberry bushes so that the birds (wild and domestic) and I would each get our fill. Likewise, I keep enough chickens so that I still have plenty when someone invites themselves to a chicken dinner. With the help of a good roo and a watchful dog, I have found myself with far more chickens than I need. Only the bobcat has succeeded in taking an adult (6 to 8 in fact), but that was A.C. (ante canis).