Hawks!

[centrarchid]

Hawks are everywhere here. In a mile driving past the prison, you can easily see eight of them along the road. We could get a dog, but I don't want one to be honest. I'd rather try to manage the flock without one... At least until the RIGHT dog comes along. Not into just adopting a dog for the heck of it, it has to be the right one, lol. Around the house, cover is easy... We've got bushes, trees, etc. But out in the fields, there's nothing. I can always try to keep them closer to home though. I wonder if they'd even sprawl through the fields or if they'd be weary because of predators.

Dog is out for now.


What appears to be significant cover does three things. First it makes it harder for hawk to spot chickens. This works great when chickens are loafing but they will have come out to forage and they will have to get away from forage to get to areas not already picked over. Second, it breaks line of sight when predator is in pursuit. This requires cover plants to have a degree of thickness. Thirdly, the cover denies hawk advantage of flight while hawk is on ground and preferably before hawk can make physical contact. What I look for in cover that denies flight is that it occurs in patches that exceed 4 feet in diameter and has lots of vertical stems to prevent hawk from flying. Red-tails are not good in tight quarters as they are more suited for soaring. Coopers hawks can get around in tight quarters better and even more apt to pursue quarry on ground but they are smaller. My roosters work great against grounded Coopers hawks.

Adjusting behavior of flock through feeder and water placement helps. I like to place feeding stations close to but not inside a cover patch. This gives flock good feild of view and close proximity to shade for loafing. Move feeding stations periodically from cover patch to cover patch to prevent over grazing / scratching a given area because such can kill grass or even cover patch. Feeding stations that are occasionally moved should help tighten up ranging habits keeping the flock from moving out so much into open in a scattered manner. Chickens are not as fast as a flying hawk but they can still bit the former to cover if they react in time and cover is close.


Look into getting a single game rooster with your flock. Most are better people birds than typical production breeds and they are very pretty to boot. I stress only one. He need not be a chick. I frequently use adult game roosters as baby sitters for chicks and juveniles so your are not adding a management headache there. I do not know why but game roosters, at least those my family has always kept, are consistently model parents and even do it better than red jungle fowl roosters. Maybe it is the grey jungle fowl involved in the creation of the first domestic chickens?

 

[Phyrst]

Hawks are everywhere here. In a mile driving past the prison, you can easily see eight of them along the road. We could get a dog, but I don't want one to be honest. I'd rather try to manage the flock without one... At least until the RIGHT dog comes along. Not into just adopting a dog for the heck of it, it has to be the right one, lol. Around the house, cover is easy... We've got bushes, trees, etc. But out in the fields, there's nothing. I can always try to keep them closer to home though. I wonder if they'd even sprawl through the fields or if they'd be weary because of predators.

I have problems with hawks here. My coop and pen is covered but when I let the chickens out to do a little free-ranging, the hawks show up. Cooper's hawks or sharp-shinned hawks, I can't tell but nothing seemed to deter them and they winter over here. I hang wild bird feeders out during the winter and the hawks would take a dozen small birds or so every season. I hung the feeders beside cover for the wild birds then moved them around to discourage the hawks. Eventually I have to stop feeding the wild birds for while. I'm always out with my chickens when they're free but the hawks would still catch them every time. I had 2 dogs then and it didn't seem to make a difference to those blasted hawks. One time a hawk came in after my Silkies. We had a big RIR roo who fought it but it just hopped over the roo, grapped the Silkie and killed it. I was close enough to see it's red eyes and barred chest feathers. It didn't get off the ground with my chicken but the damage was already done. Now I don't free-range. I still see the hawks. I don't look up high in the surrounding trees for hawks, I look about ground level or just a bit higher. Here the hawks hop!! Honestly! I've heard of people trying to use those dancing wind men (whatever they are ) but from my experience, if a hawk takes a chicken, it's learned where to get easy prey and it keeps coming back. It's against the law here to shoot them but I sure wish I didn't have to worry about them getting more of my chickens. You will have to decide if free-ranging is worth the cost of a chicken or otherwise go for safety and keep your chickens penned up. We also had hawks hopping around the fenced pen. The older chickens knew to run inside the coop but the adolescents ran for the corners of the pen. The hawk actually caught one and killed it trying to pull it through the fencing. Another dead chicken to a hawk. Now I don't let any chickens under 4 months go out into the pen!

 

[centrarchid]

I have problems with hawks here. My coop and pen is covered but when I let the chickens out to do a little free-ranging, the hawks show up. Cooper's hawks or sharp-shinned hawks, I can't tell but nothing seemed to deter them and they winter over here. I hang wild bird feeders out during the winter and the hawks would take a dozen small birds or so every season. I hung the feeders beside cover for the wild birds then moved them around to discourage the hawks. Eventually I have to stop feeding the wild birds for while. I'm always out with my chickens when they're free but the hawks would still catch them every time. I had 2 dogs then and it didn't seem to make a difference to those blasted hawks. One time a hawk came in after my Silkies. We had a big RIR roo who fought it but it just hopped over the roo, grapped the Silkie and killed it. I was close enough to see it's red eyes and barred chest feathers. It didn't get off the ground with my chicken but the damage was already done. Now I don't free-range. I still see the hawks. I don't look up high in the surrounding trees for hawks, I look about ground level or just a bit higher. Here the hawks hop!! Honestly! I've heard of people trying to use those dancing wind men (whatever they are ) but from my experience, if a hawk takes a chicken, it's learned where to get easy prey and it keeps coming back. It's against the law here to shoot them but I sure wish I didn't have to worry about them getting more of my chickens. You will have to decide if free-ranging is worth the cost of a chicken or otherwise go for safety and keep your chickens penned up. We also had hawks hopping around the fenced pen. The older chickens knew to run inside the coop but the adolescents ran for the corners of the pen. The hawk actually caught one and killed it trying to pull it through the fencing. Another dead chicken to a hawk. Now I don't let any chickens under 4 months go out into the pen!

Not all dogs on the ball. Mine literally chases Coopers when they fly through. Not all rooster effective either. My games roosters very effectively go after Coopers hawk on the ground even when out in the open. Anything the hawk can get used to will not be an effective deterrent.

 

[Aschenfire]

I suggest keeping birds under roof if you are scared of wild predators before you even have chickens. And shooting them is a BIG no no...have you not read the other hawk threads?? They are federally protected...can you afford fines and possible prison time? I also giggle when people talk about "shooting hawks" because they have kids. Hawks are not going to bother you or your kids. If you insist on letting your chickens out of a run, either provide places for them to hide IF a raptor targets them, or accept that you MAY lose some smaller birds.

 

[zion11]

UGH! We just had our second loss to a hawk - this one took duckling behind a structure in the back of yard to feed to her two babies - DH caught them in the act Is there ever a safe age that my birds will be big enough - how big will my birds have to be before hawks stop attacking? I can leave them in the run, but I'd like to let them free range again, eventually.
The ducklings are a few weeks old, and are pretty fearless about going wherever in the yard. The chicks and pullets (about 1 month & a few months respectively) haven't had any problems with the hawks. aww - my cute sweet ducks - I'm sick about it!

 

[centrarchid]

UGH! We just had our second loss to a hawk - this one took duckling behind a structure in the back of yard to feed to her two babies - DH caught them in the act Is there ever a safe age that my birds will be big enough - how big will my birds have to be before hawks stop attacking? I can leave them in the run, but I'd like to let them free range again, eventually.
The ducklings are a few weeks old, and are pretty fearless about going wherever in the yard. The chicks and pullets (about 1 month & a few months respectively) haven't had any problems with the hawks. aww - my cute sweet ducks - I'm sick about it!

Ducks best defense it seems is to have a little size and to be on water as in a pond at least. If no water, then sitting ducks.

 

[Bettacreek]

I suggest keeping birds under roof if you are scared of wild predators before you even have chickens. And shooting them is a BIG no no...have you not read the other hawk threads?? They are federally protected...can you afford fines and possible prison time? I also giggle when people talk about "shooting hawks" because they have kids. Hawks are not going to bother you or your kids. If you insist on letting your chickens out of a run, either provide places for them to hide IF a raptor targets them, or accept that you MAY lose some smaller birds.

I've read plenty on other threads, and I know the laws on hunting/shooting. Hawks and eagles are all protected. And, no, I'm definately not going to jail, since I wouldn't be allowed to have visitation from any of my family who works in the state prison here, lol.

 

[gdplum]

I have installed a system to deter flying predators... and so far, have been successful in preventing flying predator attacks. See photo attached. I stretched several lengths of heavy / medium weight nylon fishing line between trees and posts that are in my chicken yard. I hung a CD at several areas in the string maze. Each CD is attached to another string that is attached to a fishing swivel. The slightest wind action causes the CD's to rotate - catching and reflecting sunlight. I believe the combination of strings and CD's confuses the owl or hawk's vision...and causes them to look for other game. I hope it works for you.

 

[deek]

I have installed a system to deter flying predators... and so far, have been successful in preventing flying predator attacks. See photo attached. I stretched several lengths of heavy / medium weight nylon fishing line between trees and posts that are in my chicken yard. I hung a CD at several areas in the string maze. Each CD is attached to another string that is attached to a fishing swivel. The slightest wind action causes the CD's to rotate - catching and reflecting sunlight. I believe the combination of strings and CD's confuses the owl or hawk's vision...and causes them to look for other game. I hope it works for you.

Would be very interested in an update if you have the time. I have two hawks that suddenly appear and begin to circle when I let the chickens out of their pen.

 

[bigoledude]

I've never even heard of using game cocks for security! What a great idea Centrarchid! We have some old-timers in the area that still maintain their old fighting chicken's blood lines. Getting a cockerel or two would be easy. It's not like the old chicken fighters are having any birds killed any more. And yes, they are absolutely beautiful.

I also considered stringing UV resistant string across the yard in several places. Also, would some areas of bird netting, strung about 2-feet off of the ground, provide cover that is as effective as trees, shrubs and thickets? Maybe weave some material through the webbing to give the chickens a sense of being in protective cover?

Bettacreek, our chickens don't wander way off into open fields. Especially when most of the cover is near the house. They do however, wander further out than I'd prefer. A good rooster will try and keep 'em close. I do manage to keep them closER when I plant greens-n-stuff that they love grazing on. The trick is getting the greens to grow to a decent size before they devour it. It requires me to enclose/cover the plants for a while.