A hawk that just won't quit!!!

[thekid]

Quote:
The reason i say to shoot it is because my very good friend (chickencrazy69) lost his favorite chicken to a hawk and do you know what else killed his roo? Yup a hawk. He lives out in the middle of the country with a house dog. But he hasnt killed it. He said if it attacks. Its getting the bullet.

 

[Ole rooster]

Seems like we have to be very wary of the federal laws on killing all protected species. If anything come onto my place with the intent to kill, natural or not, it will not happen if I'm here to witness it. I had a mountain lion show up and called the DNR. The first thing I was told was I was not allow to harm the creature in any way. I told the agent if that thing even looked like he intended to harm anything on my place he would be harmed in a final type manner. He said, well, OK. Still the best way to handle it is the SSS method. It will never fail. I will protect the animals on my place for attack from any predator.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
The reason i say to shoot it is because my very good friend (chickencrazy69) lost his favorite chicken to a hawk and do you know what else killed his roo? Yup a hawk. He lives out in the middle of the country with a house dog. But he hasnt killed it. He said if it attacks. Its getting the bullet.

I lost 14 birds to predators last year. Three to a coyote (my fault for not penning up birds that otherwise roosted only waste high), three to a neighbors dog (reason behind acquirine dog I have now), four to a great horned owl (birds already designated as culls and not given adequate overhead cover), one to Coopers hawk (from brooder raised batch without adult standing guard), and three to ferugenous hawk during winter (took cockerols that spent to much time away from cover). I consumed or sold 10 times as many lost. That was the worst year I ever had to predators. It was nothing. Every year more birds lost to disease and that will always be part of game when trying to produce birds in constant contact with natural environment. It is one of the cost of keeping chickens. My losses are greater than yours and your friends combined and I put a significant $ value on loss of a game chicken. Still it is not my right or yours to destroy wildlife that belong to all tax payers. I pay taxes for wildlife management so I can go hunting later. I also manage my pastures and woodlot to provide habitat for wildlife. When you kill the wildlife, I and many others reguard it as a personal loss in an investment. Some wildlife, especially smaller mammals as a population can handle occasional culling for praying on livestock. Other species such as long lived birds of prey can not reproduce fast enough if everybody started shooting them because of killing or though to be a threat of it on poultry.

This year I have lost none to predators. I have learned to be smarter than my foe. Foe will beat me once in a while but losses are tolerable.

 

[goldtopper]

If it's the same hawk, over and over, I'd shoot it. Once a particular predator gets used to easy food, they'll come back until the food is gone.
Not a popular opinion, but if bird netting is not an option, I don't see a choice here.

 

[SmokinChick]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_lifestyle_animal/2008/03/pro-golfer-fell.html
I understand the SSS, but. YOu need to think. I don't have an extra $10,000.00 and time for a trial.
Try bird netting.

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
I never shoot the rockets at the hawks just straight up in the air of the safe zone, plus if a hawk or any preditor tries to grab a bird around here my dogs would most likely kill it and i don't want that as i love all animals wild or not.

 

[Blessedchickens]

I was going to suggest the cd thing too. Lot's of cover like low, outside tables where they can scatter is also good. I also heard that turkeys are great. There was someone on BYC that posted on another thread about how since they got turkeys they have never had a loss to hawks.

 

[Ole rooster]

Smokinchicken.........you missed the third S.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I string up ears of corn for the crows, they do an excellent job of chasing away the hawks (and every other small critter). However, inviting the crows to hang around can come with its own set of problems, though they've only been benificial for me. I've read other threads where crows have stolen eggs from nesting boxes and small chicks. My number one predator hear was the hawk. They took all of my favorite birds, and with them being a FEDERALLY PROTECTED SPECIES there wasn't a thing I could do about it. So I invited the crows to start nesting on my property and haven't had a hawk issue since. When they first moved in, they went from nest to nest and threw all of the baby birds to the ground (which was actually quite horrible to witness, but I'll be forever grateful to them for it). Now they hang out in the trees and wait for me to come with my daily offering of cracked corn, and they have a field day when I string the cobs up for them. Good luck with your resident hawk.

 

[NateinFL]

In my experience with hawks, if you have a repeat visitor, keep your birds in a covered pen for several days and the bird will move on or starve. With my experience, its always an immature Cooper's or Sharp-shinned that will cause the most problems. Larger birds like turkey and geese will deter hawks, especially if they are bonded with your chickens...good luck!