Dang Hawks......

[OldGuy43]

Hello out there. I found the survey for predators and was astonished at the results. I used to have chickens, don't right now but trying to find exactly what I want. I live in a rural area and my biggest problem was with hawks. My chicken run is fenced in with black netting over top. I also have a small pond, about 8 x 10, with 3 very large koi and a dozen goldfish. I have dogs too, and inside cats. Raccoons show up here every so often but they seem to scare pretty easy. I think they can smell our dogs. They've tried to get to our fish and they've tried to get to our chickens but never made it. But the hawks were the scariest. We couldn't keep them away. They sat in trees and flew round and round. Sometimes they caught little birds that fed at the outdoor feeders. We had to stop feeding wild birds. Then we would see the hawks fly from tree to tree. In fact, around here they hop around on the ground . I've watched them with binoculars. I don't look up to find them, I look toward the ground or on low branches of the surrounding trees. These hawks winter here, they don't migrate. They're smart, lightning quick and super determined. What can I do? Can't shoot them. Tried all the suggestions from this forum. I want to keep banties and can't have a roo. (bothers the neighbors) I would like to figure this out before I do get my banties Has anyone tried that motion detector for coops? Wondering if that would work....

So you have actually lost chickens to hawks? That's strange. I have as many as 15 circling here all day and they never bother mine. Have you considered attaching brightly colored strips of cloth the the black netting? Maybe they can't see it.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Doormantnt,

A few species of large hawk will take chickens. Most hawks won't.

But of course, the smaller the chicken is, the easier it is to take, so small chickens are at more risk.

The best way to keep your chickens safe is to pen them up in something with a cover over it. When the poultry gets big enough to be safe, you can identify what species of hawk you have sitting around and have a better idea of the risk involved.

There are lots of other predators to worry about if you leave your chickens loose: foxes, coyotes, stray dogs, raccoons, hungry cats, and 2 legged thieves.

The hawks, in the meantime, will be doing you a favor and controlling your mouse population and eating a few sparrows.

 

[Phyrst]

I've tried everything! I lost a 6-wk.old Silkie baby chick when we let our chickens out of the pen and they were roaming around our yard. My husband was working on his car in the driveway, maybe 8 ft. away. We had a RIR roo with 6 BR hens, a white Silkie roo with 1 black hen and her 4 chicks. I was close enough to see the barring on the hawk's breast but not close enough to save the chick. The hawk was scared away and left empty-handed, just managed to claw the chick to death. After that the hawk tried several times to get the chickens when they would congregate in the corners of their pen. I stopped letting my chickens free range after that but a neighbor down the road lost several of his banties to hawks. I had wild bird feeders out during the winter and had to stop feeding the wild birds. The hawk would actually grab little birds in the air as they came in to land on the feeder. I still see a hawk around when I take my daily dog walks.

 

[Nambroth]

Please don't take this the wrong way, as I only hope to help... but everything likes to eat chicks! Chicks are a fast, 'easy' meal for most predators, and small enough to take with them so they are very tempting to take even if there are protectors nearby (such as people, dogs, angry momma hens, etc).
I consider letting chicks range in an area where any predators live to be very risky until they are the size (not necessarily the weight) of a grown bird. Doubly so for small breeds like siklies and other bantams.

 

[Phyrst]

Yes, I realized that baby chickens, even juveniles are a quick and easy snack. I read somewhere that hawks are less likely to strike at black chickens but that didn't work for me. The Silkie chick I lost was black. I keep going back to that predator survey to see how it's going. And I read everything on these forums. I want as much info as I can get. Thanks to all that share experiences and wise words. I'm constantly learning even at my age!