BIRDS OF PREY

[pinoycano]

Good Morning,
Seeing lot's of posts on Hawk attacks! Will hawks hits ducks? Yes, hawks landing in duck pen after free ranging in supervisor mode. Lost 12 ducks past year. Fence is 10' high 20' long. We have 4 ducks left. Recommend shopping at Amazon and get some reflective tape, owls and the twirly devices. In the pen, two feet apart run either mason string(I use yellow)or you can use heavy duty fishing line 2' increments placing reflective tape as much as you like. I strip the reflective tape to look like tassels on a bike handle bar. The reflective tape is incredible. Maybe one crow landed in since I installed the tape. Remember, crows will grab small chicks. Here is why I got the reflective items and set the fishing and mason string. I have five hawks hunting my area. I was working by my duck sleeper, I thought my wife who was working with me might have brushed me off with a broom chasing a bee. It was a hawk that came in for a strike on 5 week old chicks running around my feet. I was so shocked, before I could respond, the hawk killed a chick. A hawk flew into my work shop and killed a bantam hen. Just the other day as I was on the front portion of my property a hawk flew into the back side of a coop and killer Shirley my hand raised Asian. The location where she was killed I could not get there fast enough to save her life but did not allow the hawk to eat the kill. Hawks will not try to hit birds under the fishing if you place it properly and defeat the angle of attack. I purchased some mirrors with sticky back and laid out reflective tape with 24" tassels drilled a small hole in the plastic mirror tied it up around the property in trees around the raised bed garden ect. they do flash like crazy. At 10 in the evening I make my rounds, I hit the reflective owl with my flashlight, it was impressive reflection. Good luck with the hawks, eliminate open feeding areas, it's nice to feed wild birds, it seems the more feeding activity you create invites birds of prey to the buffet. Hawks and eagles are opportunist.

 

[centrarchid]

Show videos of this stuff. People need to see how hawks operate so as to more effectively limit losses. I have many hawks, but they do not come after chickens much and when they do no camera at the ready.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hawks are amazingly well adapted to fly through tight spaces.

 

[pinoycano]

Hawks are the greatest threat. Lot's of clear cutting timber. Recently, a very large clear cut may have lead the hawks my way. I worry constantly, I am out there before sunrise when I open the coops. I stay until they run and stretch out. We do not eat our birds, just eggs. I was told hawks do not bother large black chickens. As of today, no hawk attack since I have increased installing more mirrors and reflective tape. However we are getting constant flyovers and the crows are trying to figure out access to the food source. Food is undercover and hidden. The mirrors and tape flows great on steady breeze.

 

[centrarchid]

Hawks are the greatest threat. Lot's of clear cutting timber. Recently, a very large clear cut may have lead the hawks my way. I worry constantly, I am out there before sunrise when I open the coops. I stay until they run and stretch out. We do not eat our birds, just eggs. I was told hawks do not bother large black chickens. As of today, no hawk attack since I have increased installing more mirrors and reflective tape. However we are getting constant flyovers and the crows are trying to figure out access to the food source. Food is undercover and hidden. The mirrors and tape flows great on steady breeze.

I do not have contraptions. Hawk attacks come in go in waves where I might have a problem for a couple weeks or months then nothing for years with no changes on how chickens are kept. I have lots of vegetation and cover for hawks. Not mentioning roosters and dogs.

 

[pinoycano]

I see hawks all year round. Folks down the road have same issues. Lot's of young hawks this year. Commercial raiser said she has lived here all her life and more hawks than turkey vultures. My CONRAPTIONS SEEM TO HELP.

 

[centrarchid]

Hawks are probably everywhere in US year round. I enjoy watching them. At work, just this morning a saw juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks and American Kestrels buzzing around. The latter hatched and fledged from wall of building housing my research chickens. The more problematic Coopers Hawks are much more secretive. None of the juvenile hawks are feeding themselves yet here. They are starting to move away from immediate vicinity of nest to get what their parents are bringing back. Around my research ponds I can see 3 adult male kestrels hunting over a little 4 acre area at one time. The females appear more dispersed and stay closer to where their fledglings are playing.