Can I scare hawks away?

[Fleabyte]

I'm new to this chicken thing (as of May) and the hawks have come twice now in the last week. Not successful, but still frightening. My question is this - can I shoot the hawks? I've been looking at slingshots. Maybe some kind of scatter shot. It's illegal to kill them, right? But if I just hurt them will they go away and not come back? I want to hurt them and protect my babies, send a clear message. Maybe break their kneecaps, if you know what I mean. Not liking hawks right now.

 

[SilkieBantams]

It's illegal to shoot hawks as they're a protected species but you can try to buy a hardware cloth netting to put over your run to protect them from aerial predators

 

[Fleabyte]

Dang. I can't even shoot to scare, huh? My girls are in a covered run most of the day. They run loose for about an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon. Having both my Australian shepherds out while the hens are out seems to help, but we're all still nervous. Thank you.

 

[SilkieBantams]

You can shoot a warning shot but avoid killing hawks

 

[seminolewind]

I think morning and afternoon are prime time for hawk meals. What happened with me is that crows and bluejays living around me are territorial and chase the hawks away. So I started leaving an egg or two on an area they could see, I am using a 5 foot tall coop roof. The crows are around looking for a stray egg. The blue jays are here too, but my area came with them. I had hawks till the crows moved in.

 

[Fleabyte]

Ooooh. So attracting jays and crows will help? Thank you! We had a lot of both till this summer's nasty heat and drought. My girls eating the bugs in the yard probably didn't help the situation any. I'll research ways to bring them back, since the girls aren't laying quite yet. Thanks!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have read on BYC that it is illegal to scare hawks or harass them in any way. No interaction in other words. You might research this more carefully to be sure.

 

[Fleabyte]

I'll research it. It doesn't count if jays and crows harass them.

I was even thinking that a slingshot is silent, but it would still probably be wrong.

 

[Blessedchickens]

Quote:
I bet a good ol' Mockingbird would take up the harrasing too. Since they have no problem doing it to cats!
May be able to attract them with something as simple as sunflower seeds up on a bird feeder. I have never heard of jays and crows looking for eggs. If that is true then wouldn't one of those fake, ceramic eggs from a local feed store work to just attract them? It would be an interesting experiment!

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

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