Hawks

[hmccull]

This is my first year raising chickens! They are like my babies! My 4 year old is also very protective of them! I also have 3 large breed dogs! Yesterday was my first encounter with a hawk! I think it may have been a red tailed hawk, but it all happened so fast I can't say for sure! I was sitting in my front room with my son when I heard a loud thump on my back door! I thought that was funny since all 3 of my dogs happened to be inside! I went outside and saw Bob the Ameraucana and Blacky, my black sex link hiding under a small tree! Luckily chocolate, my other black sex link was in the coop laying her egg! I call to them trying to figure out what was going on when a hawk flies down and then up to a tree litterally less then 5 feet from me! I rushed my chickens straight back into our large dog kennel, which the coop is inside! Decided to redo the top of the kennel so there was no room for the hawk to get in! But I am still scared! I let my chickens free range all summer with no problems! But now I am worried this hawk will return! I let them free range today while checking on them frequently and also leaving the dogs out! I am hoping that my dogs will protect my chickens! I am wondering though since we are approaching fall/winter, is it more likely that I will see hawks? I would keep my chickens inside if they didn't poo all the time! ha. I live in Colorado so I don't know if Hawks migrate north or south or if they just stick around all year!

 

[ll]

CedarCluck ~ wow.
Wow @ the attack
Wow @ finding the hiding hen
Wow @ her jumping into your arms

I've read hawks will return to the scene of the crime... so lock up your girls for a while. How long? idk - but good luck.
Hanging cds from tree branches is some kind of deterrent ~ I read that somewhere on byc.

So I have read through this thread and several other threads about the topic of hawks. I lost one of my girls yesterday to a hawk while she was out free ranging in the back yard. There was nothing but feathers and entrails left, and her sister I thought was dead, but after crying while searching for her for 45 minutes I found her hiding in one of my neighbors thick bushes. My partner was wonderful enough to come home and say that if I knew someone I could get more from he would take me right then, and so we went out and picked out two more beautiful birds a RIR pullet and Orp. So excited to get to know my new girls today (and unaware that it had been a hawk)I came home and took them out of the coop to let them free range and get to know me. well the other girl who survived yesterday's attack was out too and was eating some scratch at my feet when she freaked out sqwauking like there was no tomorrow, jumped into the air and in my arms just as this huge hawk flies past my legs. If she hadn't jumped into my arms she would have been hawk lunch. I didn't know until doing some research that hawks were federally protected. I spoke with the DNR here in iowa and they helped me to identify the bird as a cooper's hawk. Apparently five years ago they were almost endangered, but now we have an overpopulation here in iowa. I am not a violent person, but when they are attacking my girls I feel like I should have the right to protect them. I am not saying I am going to shoot any large predatory bird I see in the sky, but if it makes an attempt to get my girls, I think it should be up to me what to do. My coop is fully secured, but this hawk is determined now that he has already munched on one of my girls and has tried getting in their covered run and coop twice today with me running at him with a broom like a bat out of hell! then he dove head first trying to push through the fencing over the run. Didn't make it in but isn't giving up. And all I am told is, don't touch it, don't throw things at it, don't harass it. Well my girls are like my children. Let me see how you feel if a hawk eats your baby.

 

[ll]

hmccull ~ yes with Autumn coming, Hawk sightings increase.
There are chicken diapers available on the web in different styles!

This is my first year raising chickens! They are like my babies! My 4 year old is also very protective of them! I also have 3 large breed dogs! Yesterday was my first encounter with a hawk! I think it may have been a red tailed hawk, but it all happened so fast I can't say for sure! I was sitting in my front room with my son when I heard a loud thump on my back door! I thought that was funny since all 3 of my dogs happened to be inside! I went outside and saw Bob the Ameraucana and Blacky, my black sex link hiding under a small tree! Luckily chocolate, my other black sex link was in the coop laying her egg! I call to them trying to figure out what was going on when a hawk flies down and then up to a tree litterally less then 5 feet from me! I rushed my chickens straight back into our large dog kennel, which the coop is inside! Decided to redo the top of the kennel so there was no room for the hawk to get in! But I am still scared! I let my chickens free range all summer with no problems! But now I am worried this hawk will return! I let them free range today while checking on them frequently and also leaving the dogs out! I am hoping that my dogs will protect my chickens! I am wondering though since we are approaching fall/winter, is it more likely that I will see hawks? I would keep my chickens inside if they didn't poo all the time! ha. I live in Colorado so I don't know if Hawks migrate north or south or if they just stick around all year!

 

[cntrywmnkw]

I too have lost a couple of my babies to those darn hawks. The first one was about a week ago, I was coming out of the coop & heard my big girls screaming & running literally for their lives, right on their tail was a hawk, I ran up to them waving my arms & screaming to try & divert from getting my RIR's. They ran under our back deck & the hawk landed & just sat on the railing like it was going to just sit & wait for them to come out. I kept running up & yelling & it finally flew away. My BF & I went out & finally found all the girls, but was missing one of the black stars.

Then just a couple of days ago, they ran screaming again & I had lost one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes.

Now, I'm on constant preditor alert.

 

[acadian97]

We have being using crows to keep the hawks away. They attack any hawks that come near our farm. We feed the crows a little food every morning, I call them mutt & jeff and if I see a hawk before they do, I call them & they chase it away. This has worked for 2.5 years. Yesterday morning the crows were making a huge commotion & this alerted my husband.

My husband saw hawk on top of one of my favorite hens, henny penny, she was already dead. She never suffered, the hawk had broke her neck. I will miss the gentle hen.
So sad and all of the hens and sheep and cat were terrified even today. The crows were going crazy and their commotion alerted Ken.

The hawk will be back and my free range hens are going to have to stay in the coop for now.
Most likely the hawk will be back. Very sad indeed.

Noelle

 

[Speckled Hen]

Dose your town require permitting to feed/domesticate wild life? Where I'm from it's illegal to feed/train wild life. However, there is a convention of hunters in our area that meet to train their Red Tail hawks to hunt Mallards. Since Mallards are grossly over populated, and a problem to our cranberry crops, these hunters have permission to train and domesticate Red Tails. I love your theory on the crows. I'd be interested to use them on my farm.

 

[davi]

Whenever they hear a car motor next doors, or crows and other habitants fly by I always chase them away to calm them down, cuase crows seem like hawks and the car motors are really loud. So I keep them calm all the time and now they think I'm thier glorious protecter.

 

[buttercup hill]

I was outside with my crew of 19 last evening shortly before sundown when my little roo stretched his neck, opened his beak and started flapping his wings like crazy. All the ones close to me huddled near my feet while the rest disappeared under cover. Thinking that hawk must be back I looked up just in time to see a low flying small jet zoom by! When the jet was out of sight they all went back to bug hunting.

Couldn't help laughing, but I sure am proud of my crew and little roo.

 

[citychickx6]

I had a close call yesterday with a prairie falcon... IN MY YARD.
What the heck was it doing IN MY YARD.
I live in a suburb, not a huge town but not a small town either.

I have 2 broodies in the broodie breaker cages and I feel bad leaving them there 24-7. I had let them out and was making breakfast while watching them through the window.
In my tiny coop a very young pullet started screaming so I was looking out the window trying to figure out what her issue was. Out of the corner of my eye I see a prairie falcon sitting on my 3 foot fence right by my patio room. I run out and scare it off. Less than 15 minutes later there is one on the ground right by the tiny coop and another in the tree above it.
I let the dogs run out with me, not that they stand a chance of catching it, just to help scare them off.
I spend the next 30 minutes coaxing the broodies out from under the lilac bush less than 10 feet from where the falcon landed. Needless to say they are in the broodie breaker and will not be getting much time out for the foreseeable future.

Scared the daylights out of me and I am sure them as well.

 

[CedarCluck]

Well its been a little bit over a week since our run in with Mr. Hawk. He has yet to return. I think my chasing after him with a broom did the trick because we literally haven't seen him since then. So that makes me happy. Though I still don't leave my girls alone and am constantly looking up in the sky to check for him.