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Granny23
Songster
Wow. We are having an 8x4 coop built to add to the 25ft enclosure we already built but its been so hot the past mos its taking the gentleman longer to build. We're going on week 2 waiting.
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Free ranging always end in loss of life sorry. I do hope he gets it all built for you soon.I've not finished mine yet either so I'm getting nervous.I've smelled a skunky smell a couple nights this week...could be a fox or a skunk.Wow. We are having an 8x4 coop built to add to the 25ft enclosure we already built but its been so hot the past mos its taking the gentleman longer to build. We're going on week 2 waiting.
Hello @Granny23, I understand your issue and I’ve come to help.We have 4 chickens from about 7 weeks to 14 weeks. I covered 25 feet on the side of my house with a shade net for them and I can see them thru a window. We don't let them out into our main backyard unsupervised because they are so small yet. A few days ago Pepper our foundling started hollering and we found this small falcon/ hawk sitting on top of the shade cover. We scared him away...he came back a few minutes later and I sprayed him with water and chased him away.
I immediately bought 3 fake 10 inch tall owls and put them around the yard. The chickens are never out of the enclosed area without our supervision because our yard has no real places to hide yet.
This morning while 4 of us were out watching them this same falcon/ hawk came sailing around the corner of our house and swooped down over Pepper and Rosie the 2 biggest chickens and then landed in the palm next door. My granddaughter grabbed the spray bottle and sprayed towards it and it flew away.
My question is do you think now that its seen the owls it will think twice about coming back...do I need more or bigger owls or do we need to be constantly on alert? What else can we do to protect them? Pepper did his part in alerting!!! His crow is still pretty funny.
Thanks!!!
Sorry to jump in OP, I hope this is ok. Didn't want to start a new thread though.Hello @Granny23, I understand your issue and I’ve come to help.
(I’m very skilled at bird of prey identification and I’ve been studying for several years.)
What did the hawk/falcon look like, how big was it roughly?
A rough description on what it looked like would help, California is home to lots of different hawks species, and some Falcons.
Crows are often bothersome to hawks, how long have the crows been there?Sorry to jump in OP, I hope this is ok. Didn't want to start a new thread though.
I had, what I believe to be, 2 crows sitting high up scaring the ladies. They've done this the last couple days now. We had a huge hawk attack a chicken on Friday afternoon. It jumped into an area that I thought had enough cover to prevent an easy get away and therefore was mostly safe. Hubs interrupted the attack and the hen is recovering from her shock finally. But why the crows now? This is not normal behavior for the crows and we've had chickens 1.5 years. Horrible pics, but they were really high up and my phone camera is not the best. I'd love some input though.
For reference, we have 13 full sized birds, 1 petite silkie pullet, 2 large (ish) Silkies and 2 Seramas.
And we places a net over the 3' gap. Over the winter, when the trees are bare, we will put up more throughout the fenced run.
What color, size?We had a huge hawk
The crows hanging around is new. They do fly overs and I've seen them chasing hawks off in the spring but are not usually roosting over our yard like this.Crows are often bothersome to hawks, how long have the crows been there?
What color, size?
Red-tails are crow-sized and very capable of taking down chickens.
Without color, the best I can go by is size. Size-wise it sounds like your dealing with a red tailed hawk. But I cant be certain unless I hear colors and/or patterns. As well as the fact that the crows interfere, which pushes me towards red tailed.The crows hanging around is new. They do fly overs and I've seen them chasing hawks off in the spring but are not usually roosting over our yard like this.
I'm not sure on the hawk, I was not home. But hubs said it was much bigger than our full grown EE who I'd say is medium sized. Smaller that our BO but definitely bigger than the Silkie rooster.
Bigger than the EE hen huh.... Do you get bald eagles?Without color, the best I can go by is size. Size-wise it sounds like your dealing with a red tailed hawk. But I cant be certain unless I hear colors and/or patterns. As well as the fact that the crows interfere, which pushes me towards red tailed.
Asked hubs and his best guess is also a Red Tailed Hawk. But why are the crows suddenly here? And I must say this must have been the worst attack because the whole flock is on edge about flyovers and going near that corner. We are extremely lucky to have had no injuries!Without color, the best I can go by is size. Size-wise it sounds like your dealing with a red tailed hawk. But I cant be certain unless I hear colors and/or patterns. As well as the fact that the crows interfere, which pushes me towards red tailed.