Belmont County Ohio

[Bartonsfinest]

If you live in Belmont County Ohio around the Saint Clairsville and Barton and Coalrain/ 250 area and have chickens please be on high alert! There have been 2 known hawk attacks 1 day apart and a lot of sighting of hawks two different breeds ( Cooper and Red shoulder) and this evening a bald eagle was spotted flying around the Barton and Crescent. My precious hawk ( I know ironic ) was attacked on Monday evening

 

[DLA]

Must have been a day for hawks, I had a sharp shinned hawk swoop in after my girls today while I was out walking them in the yard. Pretty bold with me standing right there but we all saw it just in time and the girls ran for the bushes and I was jumping around waving my walking stick so no harm done. I'm really sorry that you had one get attacked! I know that's just nature and hawks doing what they do but I wish they'd do it somewhere else to the wild squirrels and wild bunnies that are all around.

 

[Bartonsfinest]

When my girl attacked the other day the hawk sat in a tree and watch us then had the nerve to fly on top of my fence right by were I was holding my injured bird screaming to get my hens onto my deck the hawk didn't even seemed fazed by my or my father in law either I heard that if you feed the crows or Ravens they will live or live close to your property they will keep the hawks away so I also heard hawks don't or won't go after back chickens most of my girls are black except omelet shes a splash color but shes a hardy girl the one who got attacked is white and black but she's the smallest

 

[DLA]

When my girl attacked the other day the hawk sat in a tree and watch us then had the nerve to fly on top of my fence right by were I was holding my injured bird screaming to get my hens onto my deck the hawk didn't even seemed fazed by my or my father in law either I heard that if you feed the crows or Ravens they will live or live close to your property they will keep the hawks away so I also heard hawks don't or won't go after back chickens most of my girls are black except omelet shes a splash color but shes a hardy girl the one who got attacked is white and black but she's the smallest

I've heard that about crows too, we have a lot of crows around and they do chase the hawks but that doesn't stop the hawks at all. The only benefit I've found is when I hear the crows carrying on I know to be on alert for some kind of threat. They're a good warning system. I wouldn't recommend trying to feed crows or ravens to keep them around, that feed will just draw in other things like raccoons and possums which are more dangerous to chickens in my opinion than hawks, raccoons can be quite crafty at getting into coops/runs. Dark chickens are less noticeable than white ones but once a hawk decides it's dinner I don't think color matters that much.

 

[Bartonsfinest]

My dad past away March of 2022 and he was super into bird watching so I bought a few Bird feeders and hummingbirds feeders as like a memorial to him and I feed them all year around I took them out of my yard.

My hens that wasn't hurt in the attack are not very happy with me right now. Rightfully so there is absolutely no more free range I was already in the process of building a covered run off from the coop. Ironically the hen who was attacked escaped the day before Xmas Eve and she came back Xmas eve with a broken shank. I decided then that free ranging was a bad idea. But the weather won't cooperate it went from freezing to all this snow to rain.

Turning my yard into a swamp so construction has been placed on hold for now. So I have a sun porch that's very secure in place a lock on the out added hay on the porch and made the girls a chicken house and ladder and some roost bars and I take them one at a time from there coop onto the new chicken clubhouse so they don't become bored I have a bully in the flock and she will start to Peck at the others combs so hopefully the club house gives them some kind of stimulation

 

[DLA]

My dad past away March of 2022 and he was super into bird watching so I bought a few Bird feeders and hummingbirds feeders as like a memorial to him and I feed them all year around I took them out of my yard.

My hens that wasn't hurt in the attack are not very happy with me right now. Rightfully so there is absolutely no more free range I was already in the process of building a covered run off from the coop. Ironically the hen who was attacked escaped the day before Xmas Eve and she came back Xmas eve with a broken shank. I decided then that free ranging was a bad idea. But the weather won't cooperate it went from freezing to all this snow to rain.

Turning my yard into a swamp so construction has been placed on hold for now. So I have a sun porch that's very secure in place a lock on the out added hay on the porch and made the girls a chicken house and ladder and some roost bars and I take them one at a time from there coop onto the new chicken clubhouse so they don't become bored I have a bully in the flock and she will start to Peck at the others combs so hopefully the club house gives them some kind of stimulation

I'm so sorry that you lost your dad.

The weather certainly hasn't been cooperative for building. Sounds like you've given them a good place and are keeping them well entertained till you can get the covered run finished.

I have a mirror, a hanging swinging perch, some old hard plastic cat toy balls, a xylophone, and old lawn chair, a small step ladder, plus I hang a cabbage once in a while for some fun in my run to keep them busy when I can't take them for a walk because of weather. My run is and ok size and the coop is big for how many I have but they still get a little stir crazy when the weather is bad for a couple of days in a row. Last snow we had I shoveled and swept an area pretty clean just outside the coop so they had a little spot they could scratch around in for a short bit. One of my girls that's super friendly wanted to be near me while I was shoveling nearby and tried to fly to where I was. She's too big to fly well so.... she ended up right in the middle of pile of snow, too funny! I had to fish her out of it, I could only see her head and tail feathers. I wish I could have gotten that on video.
I've gotten them pretty well trained so they usually stay together with me when we go on walkies but I will still have to be more careful after that attempted attack today. I'm thinking of tying some of that reflective tape on the top of my walking stick, the girls will probably be spooky of it at first but should adjust. Hawks don't like that stuff much and hopefully that will scare them off. I'd like to let them free range but the predator load here (and I'm assuming there in OH also) is just too high to be safe. Plus they'd probably end up in my neighbors landscaping and make a mess or on the road so that wouldn't work.