A "scarehawk" for protecting chickens (actually it's plastic dog)

[SewingDiva]

Recently I met a woman through a friend who has chickens - and get this, she lives about 5 minutes away from me in the metro Boston area, which is also amazing - so I went to check out her coop and run.

They have a nice coop & run under thick tree cover . The run is chain link fencing maybe 15 feet by 30 feet and about 5 feet tall. It's open at the top, and when I asked her about hawks (which are common my part of suburban Boston) she pointed to a plastic statue of a dog that she keeps in the run. She claims it scares away the hawks.

I kind of have a hard time attributing her success solely to the dog statue; I wonder if the run being under heavy tree cover has something to do with it.

Has anyone ever heard of using a "scarehawk" to keep bird predators away?

Phyllis

 

[speckledhen]

I doubt a plastic dog would fool them very long, no more than a plastic owl fools birds. Ever see birds nesting INSIDE a plastic owl? I bet it's because her pen is under tree cover or something makes it hard for a hawk to make a good dive. I have lots of hawk activity here and my pen is open, but I string CD's on crisscross lines over the pen, making it more difficult do dive due to the string and the flashing reflections.

 

[Southern28Chick]

I agree with speckled, I'm sure the tree cover is protected her birds. Animals are not a stupid as people want to believe. That fake dog is not fooling anyone/anything. I personally trust the game bird netting I have covering my 40'x50' chicken yard, I have a ton of hawks here. You can order it very cheap on ebay (well cheaper than buying it anywhere else, it's still pricey)

Predator protection is very hard when you think about it...everything likes chicken! Thankfully (knock on wood) I haven't had any problems with hawks since I've had my birds.

 

[ivan3]

she pointed to a plastic statue of a dog that she keeps in the run. She claims it scares away the hawks.

I doubt a plastic dog would fool them very long, no more than a plastic owl fools birds

So much for `liberating' the `trojan roo' and jamming him back here between the trees (although as a putative coop it does suggest potential...).

Our chook run is built in (and around) a stand of big Hickories and White oak, and is adjacent to the turkey run. The raptors don't seem to want to stoop through the branches (leafed out or bare). The turkey hen is excellent with the early warning (false positives triggered by unusual military aircraft aside), and the toms squat low and spread their retrices so they appear to be about two times larger than they already are - chooks beeline it back into the coop and growl.​

 

[SpottedCrow]

Scrub brush is a life saver to chooks when there's hawks about...A snowball bush saved Obelisk's behind.
In your area, Sewing Diva there's tons of rocky places for the eagles and hawks to hang out...when we were driving back from PA a hawk dropped out of the sky and I didn't even see it til it hit it's prey.