Are certain breeds less susceptible to hawk attack?

[wood&feathers]

I was wondering if the profile and color of black Sumatras would turn off hawks - they kind of look like huge crows walking around, and are a game breed.

I lost a young white cockerel to a Cooper's hawk this fall - caught it eating him shortly afterward. I then kept everyone cooped for 6 weeks. The hawk still hangs around, but has only made one more try at the chickens. It swooped my partridge Marans (barred like Doms and BRs) hen Digger on our back porch. True to her name she successfully dashed into one of her holes and then the dog and I chased off the threat. I think she is my most agile and alert bird. I am glad the hawk didn't try for Boldy, my cantankerous but lame production red. Or Shadow, my big, stately Australorp. My rooster does give warning, but Cooper's are very sneaky and will approach on the ground.

When I toss treats right now I am tossing them under our crawlspace and into a thick island of brush.

 

[centrarchid]

wood&feathers :

I was wondering if the profile and color of black Sumatras would turn off hawks - they kind of look like huge crows walking around, and are a game breed.

I lost a young white cockerel to a Cooper's hawk this fall - caught it eating him shortly afterward. I then kept everyone cooped for 6 weeks. The hawk still hangs around, but has only made one more try at the chickens. It swooped my partridge Marans (barred like Doms and BRs) hen Digger on our back porch. True to her name she successfully dashed into one of her holes and then the dog and I chased off the threat. I think she is my most agile and alert bird. I am glad the hawk didn't try for Boldy, my cantankerous but lame production red. Or Shadow, my big, stately Australorp. My rooster does give warning, but Cooper's are very sneaky and will approach on the ground.

When I toss treats right now I am tossing them under our crawlspace and into a thick island of brush.

I have yet to see a study indicating coloration influences which chicken a hawk will target. Size of Sumatras is in their favor.

Coopers were a threat to my youngsters that were less than 1.5 pounds. Cooper would snatch one and fly down to woods with little guy squaling the whole way where hawk dispatched and consumed him. I mad as ____ but decided to resolve problem by moving feeding station to heavy cover and putting a couple roosters out with youngsters. Losses stopped immediately.

I have seen Coopers do the ground approach with defenseless prey and making flying approaches using a tree or bush as cover but I have never had a loss of a full adult when a full adult rooster or more is close by. The hawk on ground is potential dead meat if rooster(s) willing to engage. A single old rooster may not be up to task.​

 

[harvey]

Hello,

We have hawk problems here in south Fl. What we do is plant trees and fencing so hawks cant glide in for a strike. I've seen hawks get rats and rabbits going straight down for the kill but, never with chickens. Most times a hawk lands on a fence or in a tree, roosters will alert the flock. OEG do well here also but, you get smaller eggs. If you free range in an open field, you more than likely will lose birds.

Good luck

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
A big part of my area is open feild. I am working to provide more cover patchs. Cover effective patch size and appearance seems easy enough. What is not known to me is how many are required and at what distance between them. Chickens not as fast as flying hawk so distance cannot be too great.

 

[mschwager]

We were visiting a vineyard north of Healdsberg CA where they have a pile of Buff Orpingtons (sp?). There were a pair of golden eagles that picked off their entire flock one year - one per day. They now have a covered yard for the chickens. The only chickens that were not eaten and are still allowed to free range were the 6 or 8 ameracaunas. The owner told me that they were "predator aware".

In my own experience we had 6 free range ameracaunas and never lost any to hawks, though I did see a large coopers hawk on the ground looking at the coop one morning and there are both coopers and red tailed hawks in the area. There are vineyard wires all over the place that deter an aerial attack which helps as well as some small trees. I have seen the chickens spot a red tail and sound an alarm cry and head for cover.

In short, the ameracaunas seem pretty savvy about hawks. Unfortunately while they were busy looking out for the hawks a big bobcat got 4 of them! (I will give update on how my electric fence works in another post this spring.)

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Golden eagles would seem easier to defeat than Coopers using cover. Rooster I think would not make a difference. As for bobcat, that is my dogs job. Bobcats will penetrate cover and take even rooster but it does not take much of a dog to run a bobcat off. I have a dog and local boobcat keeps going after neighbors waterfowl, since I think he has no dog.


Oh yes, some breeds are idiots when it comes to predators. Too much concern about looks and too little concern about free range survival.

 

[Wild Trapper]

I fence in my chicken lot and have no problem with increasing the size of that lot, a little labor and in the long run less mowing. I do have to mow the chicken lot 3-4 times a year to knock down the weeds and such. I have plenty of room I could let mine range on, but would rather know where they are when I won't be home at dark to close the gate. We have raccoons and other varmints that could just follow them into the coop. The main woods is a good 100 yards off from the coop, and yes, if we let them range, they will head for it sometimes. My daughter-in-law and son also have chickens just next door and she lets hers range all over the place. I think she has probably only ever lost 1-2 birds, we are not sure. She is a mountain girl from Thailand and they have quite different methods for keeping chicken flocks from what I have. I've heard that chickens first became domesticated or originated in Thailand.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
FOlks in other parts of world probably still retain common sense about keeping free range birds with heavy predator pressure. We have gotten away from that in part owing to mega farms providing out poultry needs so well. I would like to bother your daughter inlaw in respect to methods for limiting losses to predators.

 

[Wild Trapper]

DIL says there are no animals left that would bother chickens in her country. Even the monkeys have disappeared, We are privileged in this country to have the wildlife we have due to our game laws. As for chickens, we have the responsibility to keep our birds as safe as we can.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
I thought Thailand was still with predators. They are still discovering new species in at least parts of that region. I do like my predators. They keep you on your toes.