Keeping Away Hawks?

[macombcochick]

I have used trellis fabric for growing vining crops to cover my fenced in runs. It's even better if you leave it a little slack. If it is too taught, other predators like coons and fox will climb on it and rip holes for entry. Leaving it slack causes them to feel they may be entangled in it. Has worked great all season. Just save a big red-tail tonight in the trees above the run--he just flew off once he realized it wasn't worth the risk of getting tangled up himself.

 

[luckydawn]

This is my first year with chickens and I was horrified one day early this summer to look out and see a hawk perched on the fence of the run. He didn't actually attack but scared the heck out of me.

I wanted a solution that would look nice and allow me still to walk in the run-so covering was out.

I settled on 3 long curtain scarfs, purchased at a garage sale. They are threaded through a peony ring that is

secured in a tree. the other ends are tied with string to the ends of the chicken wire of the run.

I didn't think they would hold for long but they have been up 3+ months with no trouble. They move in the wind and create shelter but I think they are pretty, like the orange flags in central park.....maybe I'll dye them over the winter. I do plan to take them in for the winter.

Haven't seen a hawk.

 

[First-timer]

Not sure what your run is like, but we got an electric fence because we have a lot of wood's around our house, and to keep the hawks out we ran fishing line across the top. It has worked really well! We lost one to a hawk also, but since we installed the fishing we have not lost any more! YA---HOO!!

 

[Frindizzle]

I found a fun way to keep away hawks from my chickens. Feed the crows! Most people don't like crows but I found they are the only birds that chase hawks from their territory. I found that feeding the crows day old bread that they keep coming back for more, then they start nesting near by making our farm their territory! Fun watching a crow pick up one piece of bread then another and another only to drop some when it's beak it too full. It will then carry it to another area to eat it.

We've had two close calls from hawks but the crows came to the rescue! They crows would see a hawk diving toward one of our chickens and two or three of them would bombard the hawk, they take off immediately. When our crows are in the trees on our farm no hawk will come near. It's kind of like the crows patrol our the sky over our farm.

Hope this helps and is successful for you!

Sue
PS: you can also feed the crows table scraps as long as it's away from the chicken feeding areas. Some things are not good for chickens, especially don't want your chickens eating egg or meat scrapes.

Great idea, thanks!

 

[frick01]

I cannot guarantee this as I've been acting as the chickens' rooster, but I also have a plastic owl that I move around the backyard. It's on bird feeder poles, sometimes on rake staffs, and sometimes on the top of a ladder. I was told to move it every three days. I also have lots of hawks. They seem the most active mid-afternoon. My next door neighbor has less trouble because she has two small terriers who bark a lot, and she has lots of cover. The best thing is also to create cover so I'm not cutting down various bushes around the house, and next spring I'll put in sunflowers. I've also put flexible deer mesh above their run. I'd love my chickens out all day, but they generally free range about an hour a day due to the hawk difficulty.

 

[pfields]

We've had 3 hawk attacks on our chickens. Two attacks have been in the afternoon and one mid morning, all 3 survived after much TLC. The last attack came when one of my EE's jumped over the fence. He had her down by the fence under a tree. Thank goodness I heard her cry and was able to rescue her. The rooster was in the coop sounding the alarm but the coop muffled his alarm cry for me to hear in the house.

When we had our BA and GSL roosters we noticed that they're alarm sound was much louder then our BO rooster. He's just 8 months old so hopefully it will get louder. He's not as brave as the other two were but they were mean, really mean roosters.

 

[First-timer]

We use a 8 to 10 pounds test. We just zig-zag it across the top of the run attaching it to the top line on the fence about 12-15" apart. Very inexpensive & my girls are safe. We leave a small open area right in front of the coop so we can get in & change their water & food & clean it out, but the rest of the run is wired. It has worked really good keep the hawks out. I am so sorry to hear about you dogs, yes it is a very sad thing. What part of the country do you live in?

 

[pfields]

Sorry, was watching TCU beat Texas Tech in the last seconds of the game.

We live right on the Texas coast, half way between Galveston and Corpus Christi. It was coming down so hard for about 30 minutes that when I opened the back door hail came into the house. I didn't think it could hail that long, it just went on and on and the wind blew really hard, lots of lightning, too.

 

[centrarchid]

Cover patches and a fully adult standard sized rooster works in my settings. Dogs also good. Other options are more an effort to limit hawk's access to flock.

 

[Frindizzle]

Cover patches and a fully adult standard sized rooster works in my settings. Dogs also good. Other options are more an effort to limit hawk's access to flock.

Would you recommend a smaller dog or larger dog?