Christmas chicken loss

[Folly's place]

@aart has a nice photo of a hawk perched on an owl decoy somewhere on this site. As decoration, maybe good looking. As a hawk repellent, not so much.
Mary

 

[Mountaintop Homestead]

Good to know!! Thanks. Haha glad I didn't waste money on one.

 

[CMcGrath71]

It seems that the census here is that hawk is your problem. Being in the mountains I haven't had this problem yet myself but I have done some research anticipating this exact problem.

First I'm sorry for your loss, I actually loss 8 of 12 during Christmas due to a Mink in the coop. So I definitely feel sympathy for the loss of any feather baby.

But a Hawks natural predator is an Owl. So I have read and been told by other chicken owners, that getting a realistic owl decoy and placing it around where your flock free ranges, could keep the hawk at bay. Now hawks are smart however, so every few days you will have to move your owl decoy around to a different position or the hawk could figure out that the owl is fake. But a hawk or most hawks will not enter the territory of an owl. You can buy very realistic Owl decoys on Amazon and I've been told that the owl could also deterr smaller critters that like to snack on your chicken feed.
I hope this helps

Oh, my I'm so sorry you lost 8! I don't think I could manage to lose so many at once. I hope you are okay!

Thank you for the ideas about the owl. I was thinking of doing something like that. But for the most part, I'm just keeping them in their run unless I'm out with them and the dog. Hopefully, that's enough of a deterrent!