How to keep Hawks away??

[bryan99705]

Chicken.Lytle :

Quote:
OK, I was trying to offer you plausible deniability because it is a bad idea to say you will break the law on an easily searched forum, but your follow up makes it clear you meant lawful shooting with a permit. Thanks for clarifying.

The link you provided was pretty interesting. I thought this was a cool idea:

The electric pole shocker is a device developed by R.W. Schmitt of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to protect game farms and poultry operations (Fig. 3). It has proven very effective in several different settings in Wisconsin. Each unit consists of a ground wire running 1 inch (2.5 cm) from and parallel to a wire that is connected to an electric fence charger. Install electrical shocking units on top of 14-to 16-foot (4- to 5-m) poles and erect the poles around the threatened area at 50- to 100-foot (15- to 30-m) intervals. When a raptor lands on a pole, it receives an electric shock and is repelled from the immediate area. Other perching sites in the area should be removed or made unattractive. Energize the shocking unit only from dusk until dawn for owls and during daylight hours for hawks.


As for shooting, I know my opinion but that's your call and is why they have SSS.

As for bad birds perching on posts while they pick their dinner, simply drill a hole in the top of the post and stand a straight piece of heavy gauge wire straight up about 6"in it. It will stop anything short of a stork from sitting there! If you built fence with wood rails on top, stretch a thin wire along the rail about 4 " above the rail, this will deny perching. Works great on coop ridges too.​

 

[dcsharpe]

Check your states laws. In some states it is legal to kill a protected animal if it is a danger to your animals/home/family etc.

 

[Vamvakas]

Best thing is netting.. I bought a 50'X50' from ebay for $60 free shipping never managed to hang it up cause it's a pain in the butt to do and you need poles to support it.

I left the netting outside in the box until a blizzard came to CT 2 weeks ago so I can't find it but, my dad will prod get new chicken wire and redo the run the snow bent most of it. I really don't have a problem with hawks. I would like it to keep my chickens in not out.

 

[poltroon]

It's way premature to be talking about shooting a hawk that occasionally hangs around where poultry is kept. A Rouen duck is pretty large and unless you are talking hungry eagles, is probably not going to get eaten... IME. We have a red-shouldered hawk hanging out every day and he has not messed with our Khaki Campbell ducks in two years. Now bantam chickens... he'd sign right up for that.

The right thing to do is to cover the top of your run with netting so you can feel comfortable your birds are safe.

 

[windzbreezy]

I used chicken wire to cage in my run, and after I came home from work Monday I had gone to use the bathroom. From thwindow I thought I saw a chicken trying to get back in but then it flew and swooped into the fencing, that's when I knew.

 

[chynasparks]

I had a nest of a hawk rearing two chicks. I don't let my new flock of 4 free range mostly because I live behind the police/city hall and roaming neighbors dogs. Their coop is done, just some final touches, they will move in tonight. I got them a Peck and Play enclosure in the mean time to get them out every day. Love it. Anyway, I was out watching my peeps in the P&P, (never leave them alone in it) when a white bird fell out of a tree. Momma hawk killed it and was teaching her 2 young birds to eat it. My 4 peeps froze in place. They didn't even blink. We were also sitting under a pop up gazebo. At one point all 3 were on the ground not 50 feet from us. I just sat quietly, letting them deal with their catch. My peeps soon went back to pecking at the ground and ignoring the situation. This hawk family has watched is build the coop. Listening to my hubby's saws and drills, hammering all month. Well, they've all grown up and moved on. I'm going to miss them. They've kept other little varmints away, now I can look forward to smaller rodents to come back. While helping on the coop I could look up in the tree and see the 2 babies looking down at us. I know they would eat my peeps in a minute, but they can't get to them

 

[chynasparks]

This is an update to my post about a hawk raising 2 babies in my yard. Those babies are flying all over the neighborhood now. Them return to my yard all the time. They are very interested in my coop, my 4 girls. They can't get to them and I believe my girls know it, but they still make them nervous. I still believe they keep other varmints away but probably not the night time ones. Yesterday I looked out my door only to see one of the babies perced on the back of my folding chair not 6 feet from the house. They are VERY comfortable here. One thing mom hasn't taught them was to be quiet when hunting. They are 2 of the noisiest birds! As much as I admire their beauty and the fact that they don't seem to be afraid of my, I wish they would move on. My original intention was to allow some evening supervised free ranging, I don't dare. I think they would snatch one of my girls before I could do anything about it. So, as soon as money allows I'll be building a moveable run. I wish there was a way to get them to move on but I don't know how. How do you get hawks to go find new territory.

 

[marybstrassel]

I had my 5-week-old Barred Rock chicks in an outside pen covered by bird netting last week. When a red tail hawk descended on the pen, my Westie's ferocious barking alerted me. I thought one of the chickens lying underneath the hawk was a goner, but as I approached, the hawk fluttered up and the chick escaped to join her sisters at the side of the pen. Then I realized: one leg of the hawk was tangled in the bird netting. My chicks who are normally reluctant to get retrieved to return to their indoor crate, gratefully let me scoop them a up and scuttle them inside. Saved by the net!
We thought we had enough foliage from large trees to prevent the hawk from swooping--we were wrong. I'm sad because we used to let our senior chicken, a 3-year -old ISA brown, roam the yard during the day, but now her free range is curtailed.

We live in the city, but we have at least 5 hawks in a two-block radius. I will use the suggestions here. Any more ideas?

 

[chynasparks]

I'm curious, did the hawk just swoop down on top of the netting you had in place, or did it find a hole? I'm asking because I thought birds wouldn't do that, they would see the obstacle and not fly there. In fact I have read that if you string fishing line across the top of the run a bird would see it and not try to fly into it. I'm very glad your flock wasn't harmed.

 

[Folly's place]

We have several species of hawks here, and both large and bantam chickens. Over the years we've had an occasional bird taken, usually a young bantam. I do have a safe run for the birds, and lock them in for a few weeks if a bird is lost. Last year a Coopers Hawk moved in; he sat outside the run for 10 days or so. I kept the birds in lockdown for 8 weeks, and haven't seen him since. I have trees and shrubs and othe cover for the birds, and they are pretty watchful, especially the roosters. Free range is always a risk, but at times lockdown must happen. No hawks are shot here! mary