What to do about Hawks?

[Embuck]

What species of hawk?

Red-Tailed, I think. I haven't seen up real close, but that is the most common kind around here.

 

[centrarchid]

Red-Tailed, I think. I haven't seen up real close, but that is the most common kind around here.

Strive for positive ID. Can you take a picture or setup a game camera?

 

[Embuck]

Strive for positive ID. Can you take a picture or setup a game camera?

Okay, either Red-Tailed or Red-Shouldered. Is it all that useful to know what kind of hawk it is?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Scare crows, CDs, mirrors, tin-foil, fake birds - all humbug!
Fake birds are the worst: Your Poultry gets used to the silhouette of that hawk/owl/vulture and won't run anymore when the real one shows up!
Netting works best - if the netting visible to the predato, otherwise you'll might end up with an entangled hawk and F&W in your neck. But netting is also the most ugly!
Try to attract crows or ravens! They will harass the birds of prey away!
Yet i don't know how to attract crows if they're not already present. I leave some of the scratch grains out for the crows (and other birds) all the time and have observed the crows scare off several hawks.
So far my ducks were lucky.

 

[centrarchid]

Okay, either Red-Tailed or Red-Shouldered. Is it all that useful to know what kind of hawk it is?

Absolutely. Red-shouldered Hawks very seldom go after chickens, they target smaller prey. Here they dust bath very close to my birds each winter. Coopers Hawks, which typically target smaller chickens, are easy to repell with full adult standard sized chickens. Coopers not easy to defeat using cover patches alone.

Chicken tractor approach might be a good compromise giving some free-range benefits with reduced risk.

 

[Embuck]

Scare crows, CDs, mirrors, tin-foil, fake birds - all humbug!

Those have actually been quite effective for us in the past. It does rather vary based on the individual hawk you're dealing with. This current one seems unimpressed so far.

Try to attract crows or ravens! They will harass the birds of prey away!

I've heard that - but I've also heard that they occasionally take it into their heads to murder young chicks. Mine might be old enough to avoid that, though.

Absolutely. Red-shouldered Hawks very seldom go after chickens, they target smaller prey. Here they dust bath very close to my birds each winter. Coopers Hawks, which typically target smaller chickens, are easy to repell with full adult standard sized chickens. Coopers not easy to defeat using cover patches alone.

Chicken tractor approach might be a good compromise giving some free-range benefits with reduced risk.

Well, these are young, small chickens. And it's definitely not a Coopers.
I've wanted a chicken tractor for ages... However, our land and infrastructure are currently not set up for it, and we lack the requisite workforce for such a change at the present time. Hoping to get that going in the spring, actually.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Those have actually been quite effective for us in the past. It does rather vary based on the individual hawk you're dealing with. This current one seems unimpressed so far.

I've heard that - but I've also heard that they occasionally take it into their heads to murder young chicks. Mine might be old enough to avoid that, though.


Well, these are young, small chickens. And it's definitely not a Coopers.
I've wanted a chicken tractor for ages... However, our land and infrastructure are currently not set up for it, and we lack the requisite workforce for such a change at the present time. Hoping to get that going in the spring, actually.

You are correct: Crows will attack, kill and eat young birds. I've had my ducklings secured in a chicken cube until they were large enough to be outside.

 

[centrarchid]

Pen birds up. You are wasting everyone's time being contrary.

 

[Athena2344]

Unless I am out with my birds, they aren't out, either in their run (as it doesn't have a roof) or when they are free ranging. They are in a coop under a live oak, but I have seen several Hawks roost/perch in it and I don't trust them even with several large limbs close to the ground. I know that the chickens don't like it (4-5months old) and I don't like it either but we also have a young crafty racoon that took out my flock of pyncheon bantabantabs as well as my flock of quail, so unless I'm out they rarely locked up in the coop, simple as that.

 

[Athena2344]

*bantams