We have had two hawk attacks in the last few years, both in October and November. One resulted in an injured hen who lived after getting her neck stapled up at the vet, the other, sadly, resulted in the death of our favorite hen.
That was last Halloween and now we have a new flock of pullets and have already seen the hawk hanging around. Today it swooped down and banged against the side of our coop run. Luckily the chickens were secure inside but they were very scared.
Our plan is to add netting over the top of our fenced outdoor area so that the girls can go out into this larger area during the day. They have a small fully enclosed run (1/2 inch hardware cloth) attached to their coop, so this would be an extra area. It is fenced with hogwire panels that have 4 inch openings and the net we intended to use for the top is a sturdy black netting that also has 4 inch openings.
Are we crazy to think this will keep a hawk out? I’m starting to think so. Wondering if anyone has experience with a hawk going through that size openings?
That was last Halloween and now we have a new flock of pullets and have already seen the hawk hanging around. Today it swooped down and banged against the side of our coop run. Luckily the chickens were secure inside but they were very scared.
Our plan is to add netting over the top of our fenced outdoor area so that the girls can go out into this larger area during the day. They have a small fully enclosed run (1/2 inch hardware cloth) attached to their coop, so this would be an extra area. It is fenced with hogwire panels that have 4 inch openings and the net we intended to use for the top is a sturdy black netting that also has 4 inch openings.
Are we crazy to think this will keep a hawk out? I’m starting to think so. Wondering if anyone has experience with a hawk going through that size openings?
