Cooper's Hawk Attack on Silver Laced Wyandottes and Black Star!

[chickenluver21]

my chickens got away, thankfully! how can I prevent this from happening in the future?

 

[RunningChicken]

How old are your chickens? We are new to chickens, but when we first let our chicks free range (about 8 weeks), we caught a Cooper's Hawk diving for them. They scattered and the hawk was unsuccessful. We think it tried a few times after that- but never succeeded and we haven't seen any signs of hawks lately with the now grown birds. We're hoping/thinking the chickens are too big for a hawk to think about.

 

[scooter147]

Unless you put them in a covered run you really can't.

I have several coopers hawks in my area but don't seem to bother my adult chickens.

 

[wildorchid053]

cooper hawks can't fly away with a grown chicken but they can kill it and eat it where it lays

 

[scooter147]

chillin with peeps, I know that's what people say but the coopers here apparently have not read that book.
Actually, the one (I think it's the same one) sits in the oak stree and tries to pick off the birds at the feeder and when he flies into the yard and the girls are free ranging they don't even flinch anymore. Go figure.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have lost a pullet to a hawk. It couldn't carry her away. My chickens roam our orchard (think 2 rows of trees with bare area in between the rows) that is fenced 7 ft high.

Here's what we did: We staggered T posts in the bare area, they are about 3 ft apart. I tied a 2 ft long piece of scare tape to each T post. We also put up a windmill ($40 at Harbor Freight). We did all this to block the flight path. (we saw it come in) Our idea is that the hawk would be able to get in (as in come straight down), but it can't go OUT straight up. It needs a glide path, especially with a kill. So if it can't get OUT, maybe it won't come in.

It's been over a month now, and we have had some low fly overs, but so far so good.

We were even out of town this weekend, and I worried about the girls the whole weekend. I was so relieved to get home and see they were all fine.

Obviously if you truly free range, this isn't an option. Unless you want to look like the white trash neighbor with "yard ornaments". (No offense intended to white trash)