Deterring Gosh Hawks...

[lazy gardener]

Crows will chase off hawks, up to a point. I have abundant crows, and still have huge hawk issues. Crows will also snatch baby birds out of the nest, and killed 3 consecutive groups of fledging robins this summer. They also taught my chickens that fledging robins make great snacks. This is just one example of the horrors of the food chain in action. Do I kill the crows to give the robins a chance? Or do I leave the crows to help with the hawks????????

 

[canalcolt]

Crows will chase off hawks, up to a point. I have abundant crows, and still have huge hawk issues. Crows will also snatch baby birds out of the nest, and killed 3 consecutive groups of fledging robins this summer. They also taught my chickens that fledging robins make great snacks. This is just one example of the horrors of the food chain in action. Do I kill the crows to give the robins a chance? Or do I leave the crows to help with the hawks????????

My rooster killed and ate a humming bird I also have lots of cardinals, robins, blue jays, humming birds, and tiny birds that look like finches for years and the crows have been here as well. I haven't seen crows go into our nesting box and if crows stay too long our chicken will chase it off. Would u give crows a chance or let the chicken be hawk snacks.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have no intention of killing the crows. But, it's certainly disheartening to watch the robins raise 3 broods in a row, and not be able to fledge a single one.

 

[canalcolt]

I have no intention of killing the crows. But, it's certainly disheartening to watch the robins raise 3 broods in a row, and not be able to fledge a single one.

It is

 

[chickengeorgeto]

In small numbers crows are nothing more than hawk bait IOW a nice change of pace for a hawk from a steady diet of chicken. This is the reason crows challenge hawks every chance that they have. But if you keep your ears peeled for the racket of a flock of crows they can alert you to issues like a hawk attack in progress and in time for you to take protective action.

 

[centrarchid]

I will state again for clarity, Goshawks are outside the experience of most poultry keepers dealing with hawks. There are considerably larger and more capable that the Coopers Hawks that are top dogs further south. The Goshawk has a very similar relationship with crows that Coopers Hawks have with Bluejays. Jays and crows can mob Red-tailed Hawks that are similar in size to Goshawks because the Red-tailed is less adept at going after the smaller birds mobbing them. With Goshawks, you are dealing with giant sized Coopers Hawk like critter that can take sizable rabbits.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I have found that for something that is touted all the time, their protection was actually non existent. It was almost like there was no protection at all and there was really nothing between me and that bird.

Not to derail but this made me laugh.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I don't think I have probably ever even seen a Goshawk. Perhaps... I do remember once, a particularly large and fast accipiter, that might have been a goshawk. I never got a good look at it but it had the scythe wings like an accipiter, but I remember thinking it was big. It was chasing my pigeons and I believe it got one. Very fast. Although Coopers are very fast too. At the time I might have thought it was a large female coopers. But it was bigger.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

These things sound terrible, much worse than the coopers and sharp shinned that eat wild birds in my yard.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I don't think I have... probably ever even seen a Goshawk. Perhaps... I do remember once, a particularly large and fast accipiter, that might have been a goshawk. I never got a good look at it but it had the scythe wings like an accipiter, but I remember thinking it was big. It was chasing my pigeons and I believe it got one. Very fast....

These things sound terrible, much worse than the coopers and sharp shinned that eat wild birds in my yard.

Goshawks are a world wide species but they don't generally occur in the United States South of Tennessee and even at that they are only migrants. You might call a goshawk "The poor man's peregrine falcon."