Video: Cooper's Hawk get my white bantam; not graphic, but not for the faint-of-heart

[KyCoop]

Can you make a smaller pop door? My girls run door is small and "hidden" in the corner under the coop. There are bushes on one side and I will be planting more in the spring.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I'm so sorry for you and your poor bantam, it is heartbreaking! Coopers are forest birds adept at hunting while flying through and around trees and branches and shrubs, within small spaces. Inside your coop is likely no safe area for them once a Coopers is inside, even a small pop door is no defense and they are likely to be trapped in there, for instance trapped in a nestbox. At this point keeping them in until the Coopers moves on (at least a week) is best, unless you can thoroughly enclose the run and any range area with strong netting. The Coopers knows your layout and the inside of your coop. I'm afraid they can go anywhere your chickens can go.

But if you're around when they are out, a very cluttered yard and coop and run will slow a Coopers down and give you time to get there and help. Piles of things everywhere with chicken-size gaps. Broken beach chairs, old trampolines you can cover with something, old fake Christmas trees or fake shrubs leaned on their sides, pallets on blocks, pallets leaned up against a fence, old rabbit hutches, skinny garbage cans missing their bottoms laid on their side, low tables, a downed treetop, a parked RV, a parked car, kids' wagons, sleds, etc. are good. Make your yard look like something the neighbors won't like, I'm afraid, because a junk yard is a chicken's best shot in an attack.

You also need to allow some time for your chickens to familiarize themselves with all the junk you place around, so they know it thoroughly.

I had a Red-Tail get around a net that was only a canopy. So now, for my moveable "foraging area" attached to the totally enclosed permanent wire run I have strong netting held up by greenhouse frames and poles, but down to the ground on all sides. Then circling that area is electric poultry netting. I'm in a heavy predator area, aerial and ground predators.

I believe all hawks target small chickens because their instincts tell them that the small ones are the babies. Babies are the least experienced and most likely to panic and not evade well, they aren't big and strong enough to fight off a grab like an adult might, and their small stature means they cannot run fast. A friend of mine who free-ranges no longer keeps bantams because hawks kept specifically targeting them. She has plenty of escape areas and bushes, and still loses big hens once in a while to a big hawk, but nothing like the carnage that was the poor bantams, every one was taken. Even with all her bushes and obstacles my friend has to be on alert for savvy hawks. One standard hen only lived by diving under the shed and then further crawling into a cinder block set back in under there, not just hiding but unable to be pulled out by the hawk. That saved her.

Good luck with your modifications, and again I'm so sorry, every loss hurts.

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

So sorry you lost her.
A Cooper’s hawk attacked my little Pooh a few weeks ago.
I was not more than 20 feet away.
Amazingly she got away without a scratch. The lead hen ran over and laid into the hawk (it looked like they were the same size).
We are all very shaken and I have been trying to improve air cover for my lovely Princesses. But seeing your video has me very disturbed.
Looks like my efforts won’t be worth much.

Hawks like to sit outside and right by my flock, when I’m outside. Hate them.