- Mar 19, 2010
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We have also had terrible hawk problems. I've lost a full grown BR and a full grown BCM to a huge redtailed hawk--one of a pair that lives in our area. Both times, the hawk killed them on the ground inside our hen house. They used to free range in our back yard from dawn till dusk, but now I rarely let them out unless we're home and even then, I'm so paranoid that I constantly check them. They have plenty of cover in our yard and can run under our deck where nothing can reach them--but it seems that their first inclination is to head for their house, and that's a bad move. I recently heard our Wheaten Maran hollering at the top of her chicken lungs and walked out on the deck to find the girls huddled under the nesting boxes--and the hawk sitting on the fence looking in the hen house door! Probably plotting which one to eat first. I don't want to kill it (well, I HAVE wished it dead) but I want it to leave the gals alone. Our local game warden told me to harass it in any way I could--including beating pots and pans to make noise to scare it off, and shooting off firecrackers in the yard. I can see myself explaining that to our local law enforcement, as I live in a large Texas suburb.