Can a Scarecrow work with Hawks? Any useful Suggestions?

Consider a 10X20 PVC pen that u can move around ur acreage. Mine is similar to the 5x6pen shown in MPC under coop accessories. I made mine from pvc I had around the house and covered half of it with a tarp using shower curtain hooks for shade/protection from rain. We have lots of hawks and bald eagles here. I wouldn't even consider free ranging on our 2 acres even though we have trees & bushes.
hide.gif
That said ur birds and terriers are gorgeeous.
love.gif
 
There should be no shortage of crows in your area. Encourage them to hang out around your place. They will not tolerate a hawk anywhere near them. They'll leave your full grown chickens alone too.

I used to chase them off til I noticed them mobbing the hawk that USED to hang out around my coop. As long as I have crows around there are NO hawks.

Thats the only kind of scareCROW thats worked for me.
big_smile.png
 
Last edited:
Quote:
I'd like to know that too, because I haven't seen the crows keep hawks away here, but they go nuts and alert me when the eagles are near the yard!
love.gif
Never thought I'd appreciate crows, but I do!
 
Scarecrow is probably the worst idea there is, As in my beliefs you want as many crows around you as you can get a scarecrow would detour them elsewhere. Try introducing bird baths and feeders in different spots through out your yard try to call as many birds in as you can. That is what I do. Keep in mind birds can carry disease. But the smaller birds detour hawks away from your/there propertys, Mockingbirds sparrows swallows crows ect. I have actually seen crows gang up on hawks and really do some serious tormenting to them. CD's work a few times best to never leave them in one spot to long constantly move them around. plastic hawks can somewhat work as well Mounted on trees or fence posts. Also decoy crows How ever anything that doesnt get rotated around will just become normal to a bird of prey. Owl decoys arent bad. these are a few of the legal solutions that dont really seem to work 100% of the time.
There are a few more solutions that I will just keep silent for now hope this helped some.
 
i've lost a few chickens to hawks and it's heartbreaking. I haven't found a surefire way to prevent it, but from my experience hawks won't fly under a tree canopy to land. all four times the hens were attacked in a small uncovered corner of my lot. the rest of the property is more or less covered. also all four times it was a white or light colored chicken. i've had dozens of chickens and only the white ones got attacked. in fact, i stopped buying white chickens because it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
 
in New Zealand, the department of conservation have been putting up a manequin on the edge of the cliff to deter hawks attacks on a penguin colony... it's been up there for 3 years with great success. They do move it every few days.
 
OK How do we encourage crows?

Save some treats for them, and put them out in a regular spot that the crows can easily see from the air. I use a woodpile. I've been putting the meat scraps that I don't feed my chickens (fat, bones, etc) on the same spot on a wood pile for some time and now I always have crows around-- they even nest in my pine trees. Put the scraps out early in the morning so that the crows have a chance to find it during daylight... obviously you don't want a lot of meat and things hanging around out there after dark or you will attract other types of critters!



in New Zealand, the department of conservation have been putting up a manequin on the edge of the cliff to deter hawks attacks on a penguin colony... it's been up there for 3 years with great success. They do move it every few days.

This is very admirable, but I suspect that the hawks in those areas are far less used to human presence than the hawks that bother our backyard chickens. In many areas of the US, human population density-- even in the country-- is high enough that hawks become very acclimated to seeing people and are not overly deterred by human presence.
 
A large hawk is hovering around my backyard. I have 3 orpingtons because I thought a large hen would be a little big for them to pick up. I have an Australorp hen that is quite a bit smaller (but very fast) I have ~1/3 acre in the backyard with a privacy fence. I also have 13 trees. Last week I bought an owl decoy that you put on a pole and it's wings move when the wind blows. I also bought a blow up mannequin that I have sitting in the patio chair. I have holographic ribbons, holographic owls with bells on them. ( I am convinced those things are worthless) I haven't lost a chicken in 4 years. (I work at deterring them almost constantly it seems) I do worry so about losing one to a hawk because they are beloved pets. They sometimes get the birds at the feeders in the front yard. I wish the would get some of these squirres that eat my chicken feed etc.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom