Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Well I tried to google search when the hawk's have the breeding season, and I think that may be what is starting to happen according to what this site had to say:
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/hawk-mating-season-when-do-they-breed/

 

[CaroleW]

Very interesting and informative article. I've seen a hawk (or could be more than one) doing a lot of hunting lately. It likes to perch atop a line of Arizona Cypress trees that are on the fenceline which is right over my chicken runs in some places. They also nest in one of those trees yearly.

Sometimes my friends ask if I keep a free-range flock. No free rangers here -- they would've been eaten up long ago like some neighboring birds. We have all covered runs for a reason, either heavy old chicken wire or aviary netting with flag tape on it so aerial hunters see the net. I do expect to lose some at some point but not all of them since we have multiple runs.

 

[BlueBaby]

Very interesting and informative article. I've seen a hawk (or could be more than one) doing a lot of hunting lately. It likes to perch atop a line of Arizona Cypress trees that are on the fenceline which is right over my chicken runs in some places. They also nest in one of those trees yearly.

Sometimes my friends ask if I keep a free-range flock. No free rangers here -- they would've been eaten up long ago like some neighboring birds. We have all covered runs for a reason, either heavy old chicken wire or aviary netting with flag tape on it so aerial hunters see the net. I do expect to lose some at some point but not all of them since we have multiple runs.

I know what you mean. One of the neighbor's that was free-ranging that the hawk's got had bought those Aloha's that I had, so those are now gone. She didn't have an Aloha rooster for them anyway's. She ran a mixed flock. I won't sell anymore of mine to her. I feel like if I do, I would just be condemning them to death.

 

[springvalley123]

Well I tried to google search when the hawk's have the breeding season, and I think that may be what is starting to happen according to what this site had to say:
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/hawk-mating-season-when-do-they-breed/

It makes sense that since the article is general to all of our country, that we'd have earlier mating season, especially you, with your very mild winters. Soon the hawks will have extra mouths to feed, and eventually the baby hawks will be hunting on their own. Goody!

 

[springvalley123]

I know what you mean. One of the neighbor's that was free-ranging that the hawk's got had bought those Aloha's that I had, so those are now gone. She didn't have an Aloha rooster for them anyway's. She ran a mixed flock. I won't sell anymore of mine to her. I feel like if I do, I would just be condemning them to death.

Count me lucky, or somewhat vigilant, but I've free ranged my birds (to just mean backyard, whole yard, not the whole neighborhood) and not a single predator loss. That is, not counting the baby duck hatchlings/eggs that a king snake must've gotten. We had built our first run/coop, and decided against putting hardware cloth under the entire interior of the run, just had an apron. I have crows where I am. I have a lot of deciduous trees in the area the birds are confined to, so I'd think it'd be hard for a raptor to make a swoop at my birds. But, it's a trade off, you have to be able to accept losses. I enjoy seeing my birds out enjoying the yard. I'd love to see some larger predator proof run/coop setups though.

Oh, and in that first setup, we had about 80 x 100 under bird netting to keep out the aerial predators. I lost a whole garden (never sprouted except for a few) to mice who had nested in the garden bed, same timeframe as the king snake. So in keeping any predator out, we have to think about the food chain--another tradeoff for us chicken owners!

 

[BlueBaby]

Count me lucky, or somewhat vigilant, but I've free ranged my birds (to just mean backyard, whole yard, not the whole neighborhood) and not a single predator loss. That is, not counting the baby duck hatchlings/eggs that a king snake must've gotten. We had built our first run/coop, and decided against putting hardware cloth under the entire interior of the run, just had an apron. I have crows where I am. I have a lot of deciduous trees in the area the birds are confined to, so I'd think it'd be hard for a raptor to make a swoop at my birds. But, it's a trade off, you have to be able to accept losses. I enjoy seeing my birds out enjoying the yard. I'd love to see some larger predator proof run/coop setups though.

Oh, and in that first setup, we had about 80 x 100 under bird netting to keep out the aerial predators. I lost a whole garden (never sprouted except for a few) to mice who had nested in the garden bed, same timeframe as the king snake. So in keeping any predator out, we have to think about the food chain--another tradeoff for us chicken owners!

Yes, and if you have mice, that will draw the snakes in.

 

[CaroleW]

I used to free-range in Mesa where the chickens usually spent the day under a couple of mature orange trees and had a fenced yard of grass separate from the dogs. They also had a run went along perimeter of our block wall to get to thier coop inside the pool fence with a chicken tunnel under a bench that I called the tunnel of doom - they were not afraid of the misnamed tunnel and liked to stay there in the shade...lol. This was a mature flock not juveniles which had to be in the chicken tractor due to cats scaling wall and other issues.

 

[Happy Novogens]

All this got me wondering if the hawks are more active at certain times of day. I let my chickens out in the yard each evening about an hour before sunset. So I just did some checking and came across this interesting article.

Here’s the topics

• What time of day do hawks usually hunt?
• Will a hawk attack a full grown chicken?
• Will a hawk keep coming back for chickens?
• Can you shoot a hawk for attacking your chickens?
• How to stop hawks from attacking your chickens?

https://birdcageshere.com/2021/07/18/when-do-hawks-hunt-chickens/

 

[BlueBaby]

All this got me wondering if the hawks are more active at certain times of day. I let my chickens out in the yard each evening about an hour before sunset. So I just did some checking and came across this interesting article.

Here’s the topics

• What time of day do hawks usually hunt?
• Will a hawk attack a full grown chicken?
• Will a hawk keep coming back for chickens?
• Can you shoot a hawk for attacking your chickens?
• How to stop hawks from attacking your chickens?

https://birdcageshere.com/2021/07/18/when-do-hawks-hunt-chickens/

Thanks' for sharing! I'm sure that other's will be dealing with this issue soon, if they aren't already.

Edited to add: Someone forgot to tell these hawk's when they are supposed to be trying to get the chicken's. They are out all hours of the daylight here, even in the afternoon's.

 

[igorsMistress]

Count me lucky, or somewhat vigilant, but I've free ranged my birds (to just mean backyard, whole yard, not the whole neighborhood) and not a single predator loss. That is, not counting the baby duck hatchlings/eggs that a king snake must've gotten. We had built our first run/coop, and decided against putting hardware cloth under the entire interior of the run, just had an apron. I have crows where I am. I have a lot of deciduous trees in the area the birds are confined to, so I'd think it'd be hard for a raptor to make a swoop at my birds. But, it's a trade off, you have to be able to accept losses. I enjoy seeing my birds out enjoying the yard. I'd love to see some larger predator proof run/coop setups though.

Oh, and in that first setup, we had about 80 x 100 under bird netting to keep out the aerial predators. I lost a whole garden (never sprouted except for a few) to mice who had nested in the garden bed, same timeframe as the king snake. So in keeping any predator out, we have to think about the food chain--another tradeoff for us chicken owners!

I’m in this boat as well. It’s nice to look out the back door and see them all running around out there. I enjoy that they come to visit me when I go outside too.