What keeps hawks away?

[leochickenmama]

My chickens hide under my huge holly bush if they see a hawk when they're free ranging.

Our pen is covered with twine. A Cooper's got in, but my Jersey Giant roo beat it up. It hasn't come back.

A Red Tail has been hanging around lately, but it can't get through the netting, and it won't go under the bush. I haven't lost any chooks to hawks in a while. I'm happy about that, since I lost a few young pullets to them last year.

 

[Roark]

Thought I saw holly listed as one of those plants that can be harmful to chickens. No issues, 'cuz we have a few?

 

[ParadiseFarms]

Crows are suppose to keep the hawks away, however they ate up all the corn and berries in my garden last year. We had a terrible time with Hawks and Eagles. We even built more breeding pens, but the eagles would swoop down, and rip the cheap netting we had over the top of the pens. I am slowly replacing the netting with chicken wire.

But in the meantime, I have the chickens that I'm not breeding free ranging through the day. So I bought a hen saver apron with the predator eyes on the back. It has really made such a difference!

http://www.hensaver.com/



We also made a scarecrow of sorts. Mannequins can be very pricey, so instead we found a Styrofoam head at a thrift store for 1.99. Then we dressed it up in a rain slicker for 3.99. The rain slicker moves in slight breeze, keeping away hawks and eagles from our chickens. Maya likes the scarecrow, she thinks it's people, lol! I'm still looking for a full size mannequin, that I can move around the yard, and change the clothing from time to time. The way I figure, most predator 's are afraid of humans. So keeping a mannequin around the yard, couldn't hurt. So far we haven't had any predators since!

My flock protector.





Just remember it's out there! It looks very real at night, nearly scared the life out of me! lol

 

[Chickiee]

Paradise Farms, love the hensaver pic. Does your hen mind wearing it? I'm sure the mannequin idea works well too, but geez that would give me the creeps out in the yard!

 

[BusyBlonde]

My chickens keep the hawks away! Seriously, we have 3 open pens with 3 different aged chickens. We have a lot of hawks in our area, but until a few days ago, they have never gone after our chickens. We had one decide to land in the pen with our 5-month olds. It was immediately attacked (as is anything that inadvertently finds its way into the pen) and lucky to get away with its life. We were on our deck, and saw the chickens converge on a brown 'object'. We thought it might be a dove, or other bird, trying to eat their food. When the object exploded out of the middle of the flock, and winged its way over the fence, ,we realized it was a was a hawk! The hawk nearly got overcome by the chickens. NOTE: we do have a lot of roosters, but the hens were in the midst of this encounter also!

 

[The Sheriff]

This guy chases off Coopers Hawks and anything else that isn't supposed to be here. Here he is trying to get a roaming chicken back over the fence.



He is always on patol. His brother (head down) is more of a lovable airhead.

 

[centrarchid]

The Sheriff,

Would anything else include labradore sized dogs? Would the emus mount a group attack against dogs? Do they get along with chicken feeders?

 

[animals1981]

some emu can take on larger dogs but something more serious like an aggressive german shepherd intent on killing can kill one but em are strong and can seriously hurt a dog when they stand their ground and dont run and fight teir kicks can cause serious damage and spilt a dog open also a human

they have good natures though and are oftne sweet unlike their relatives which can often be more dangerous


it depends on the bird if the emu stands its ground and fights the dog most dogs will leave it alone 2 dogs will kill it or an experienced larger aggressive dog like a large gsd would probably take it down again tho the bird itself is a alien to dogs something they have never seen so probably not worth the risk


an emu with a donkey and a couple of dogs would be a great team i wouldnt depend on one by itself

they attack in single or pairs never seen in groups


they are not that smart compared to dogs though so like dogs or coyotes if they put emu in a panic then things might get ugly but emu can run faster than MOST dogs sso an emu can just run away ina panic the dog would ignore the emu and kill whatever the emu is with


som emu will dont like cats possums coons or any small predators because of insinct those predators kill their chicks and eggs so emu will hiss at them and try to stomp their heads in the ground ive seen that before they will do it even when they arent breeding anything that looks like a small predator a protective emu might hiss at and try to stomp with its feet

non meat eatng predatory type animals are usually ignored from what i see, they dont like hawks becaus hawks try to to take their chicks emu are ground nesters so they have to be protective and aggressive


but again ive seen emu make friends with dogs so

 

[CammieSilkie]

Hm.. I don't know if someone else has suggested this yet, but try placing a large mirror on top of your coop. If a hawk is circling your chickens and sees another hawk below him, he may become scared off or become territorial and get distracted from your chickens. i don't know if it works, i haven't tried it for myself, but someone i know has a few mirrors that she cleans frequently placed around her yard on the ground and she says it works wonders.

 

[ParadiseFarms]

Paradise Farms, love the hensaver pic. Does your hen mind wearing it? I'm sure the mannequin idea works well too, but geez that would give me the creeps out in the yard!

She flapped her wings, and walked in around looking perplexed at first. But after about five minutes, she forgot the apron it was on. It's very easy to toss in the wash, if needed too.

Yeah, I forgot for a split second the mannequin was in the yard the first night! Not so scary in the daylight however. But like I said, we haven't had any predators since! I'm hoping it will keep the crows away from the strawberries and tomatoes this year too.


Nice looking emus you have Sheriff!