A Hawk Is Killing Our Chickens. What should I do?

[Bear Foot Farm]

I called DNR and was told I COULD kill the hawk because it was destroying livestock

I wouldnt put too much faith in something I was told over the phone.

The ONLY legal way to kill a raptor is to get a Federal Depredation Permit​

 

[RevaVirginia]

Quote:
What is that structure that appears to be constructed overhead and it's purpose?

 

[Mahonri]

We had a hawk come down once and it hit the wire and feathers flew.

I decided that if I ever saw another one I might buy a shotgun as mine was stolen a few years back.

 

[cybercat]

Any chicken under a certain size is prey for hawks. One of the reasons I got into the Rocks was for their size. If you have silkies they should NOT be free ranging for the can not see above themselfs with all the head feathers. Any light breed and this includes any chicken under 7 lbs is in danger of hawks. The only way to protect them in lock them up in the coop for a few days and cover your run. By locking them in the coop the hawks will move on after a few days. They have to have a regular feed source to stay in a area for any legnth of time.

My chickens free range and we have hawks here also. Just yesterday one swooped one of my hens just on the otherside of our fence. I saw it will I ws on the computer. It was a female cooper hawk which is a large hawk around here. She missed and gave up for she missed judge the size of the bird. I had a male cooper hit one of the other females but could not take off with her and she is smaller. Hubby found them and hawk flew off all she lost was her tail feathers. She is fine but the hawk could not take off with her so was trying to do her on the ground and that did not work either for she was too big for him to grab right. male cooper hawks are smaller than the females.

 

[ChooksChick]

I lost a Blue Andalusian a couple of days ago- my spoiled couch-dog has had to live outside all day since then, because the hawk is afraid of him, but it's back several times a day, looking to see if there's a chicken dinner waiting. It's a Ferruginous Hawk, like twice as big as a Red-Tailed Hawk. I'm so mad! It really needs to go elsewhere. I'm going to go buy several plain balloons and paint eyes on them, and I'm going to put tinsel all around my fence. The wide stuff- it's in all the stores now, it being Christmas time in retail-land!

 

[PortageGirl]

ooh, good idea about the tinsel! I'm sure most people know that it's very dangerous to pets, and probably to chickens since if they can get to it, the mylar won't be broken down and will tangle in their gut, (or in a chicken's crop) and can kill them. Just make sure pets of any kind can't get to it!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

WE have lots of hawks! We also found out a turkey with babies is a HANDFULL for a hawk. We keep babies with one of our turks about all of the time. Turks lay in cooler weather, but they'll hatch chicken babies too.We havent lost a chicken in a long time. We have a nite-guard that flashes a red blinking light at night. Works AMAZEINGLY well!

 

[HippieChickens]

A couple of things:

* Red-tailed Hawks and all other native birds of prey are protected by federal law whether they're endangered or not. (They'd all be endangered if they weren't protected.)

* A large, resident bird of prey that's not tempted by poultry is one of your best allies against those that are. They're territorial not only toward members of their own species but against potential competitors of other species. As with other predators, the loss of an established adult raptor just leaves a vacuum to be filled by a naive youngster whose prey preferences aren't yet established (and who therefore may be tempted by anything that moves).

I've seen two farmyards "guarded" by resident hawks that would loaf up in the trees while the poultry fed unconcerned directly below. We may have one of our own now, since a gorgeous Red-tailed Hawk recently took up residence in our neighborhood and likes to sit on a utility pole in front of our house, in full view of our chickens' run. She's never done more than glance at the chickens, even when they're out free-ranging (they're in their enclosed pen/coop except when I'm there to supervise). The other day when the girls were pecking around the yard I heard the alarm cackle of a Cooper's Hawk coming from the neighbors' yard. That put me on alert, even though that call indicates that the bird is in non-hunting mode. Looking around to see what had upset the Cooper's, I noticed the Red-tail sitting on her usual perch staring in the direction of the cackle.

The calling Cooper's may have been the same one that visited our yard daily for a drink and a bath the last two winters (really fun to watch, especially the reactions of the quail and songbirds when they'd find her standing in "their" water). If she survived to return this winter and isn't too intimidated by the Red-tail or the addition of the coop/run to the yard to hang around, I'm not expecting any trouble from her since she's now an adult with established prey preferences that almost certainly do not include poultry. If a young Cooper's appears, we'll have to "train" it not to be a chicken killer by not giving it any opportunities (there's plenty of natural prey around).

 

[nancysmith2]

OK so what you are saying is the red tail is an adult and uninterested in your adult chickens? Or the Coopers Hawk is uninterested? Or no adult hawks will bother full grown chickens? Which is what I have read. It is the young males that are a problem. I have an enormous red tail that flys in the same fly zone every am around 10 am. I am scared silly every time I see that huge bird. So far we have either been at home and outside or we have had the girls locked away safe(which they hate).. This hawk would have no problem eating my 3lb 8 mo old chickens I am afraid. Last summer we think a hawk got 2 of our pullets while we were away. What do you think about this large bird? Is he/she after my birds or the millions of squirrels in my yard.

 

[HippieChickens]

Our current Red-tail neighbor has no apparent interest in poultry. That particular Cooper's Hawk is also unlikely to be interested in poultry, based on her lack of exposure to poultry over the last two winters. (We just got chickens this spring, and only a handful of people in our neighborhood keep poultry.)

Basically you can't know for sure whether an individual bird of prey is going to go after your poultry until it does, but birds are creatures of habit. A bird of prey of either sex that survives to maturity without learning to kill poultry is unlikely to develop an interest in poultry unless its preferred natural prey is in short supply. If a hawk doesn't show any interest in your poultry despite lots of temptation, cultivate that relationship, because a bird like that will discourage other potential problem hawks from settling in your neighborhood. It certainly doesn't hurt to cultivate that preferred prey base, too. As I said, there's plenty of natural prey around our yard because we put out food and water for the wild birds (the squirrels, mice, and packrats benefit, too, and they're excellent hawk and owl food).