deterring hawks and eagles

[MyPetNugget]

 

[kdwag]

I had one my chickens killed, I think, by a hawk. I too was letting them free range, now I don't. The remaining 2 will not hardly venture out of their enclosed run, I hate it because they loved free ranging, but, at the same time, now I'm afraid of losing the other 2. Hate it!!

 

[Erica]

It helps to give the chickens a lot of cover. Heaps of low shrubs, but also low platforms they can rush under. Plenty of vertical obstacles like bamboo bean tripods can also help by interfering with ambush and lines of flight. It's easy to train a vine to grow up the tripod, and if it's large enough it can give chickens that extra edge (as well as a temporary hiding spot).

If they are penned they need netting over the top. However even that can fail -- a goshawk once caught itself in my pen, as it had slipped in through a 10 inch hole and couldn't find the way out.

We seem to have every size aerial predator possible here -- tiny sparrowhawks (not much danger but they do alarm the birds), goshawks and kites, and then some fairly insistent sea eagles, which nest about 300m away. Every year a junior sea eagle comes to harass the chickens, which I suppose is its way of learning what's what. I haven't lost a chicken to one yet, but that's because I pen the birds when the sea eagles are visiting, and their first few fly-overs are obviously scouting ones.

I find that there's a stable point reached when the chickens have learned to listen to each other and watch out above (roosters are especially vigilant) and there's a decent amount of nearby cover to break up the airspace as much as possible. A cluttered yard is better than a cleared one for free ranging (though then you're providing cover for all the ground predators, drat).

Basically all life is a trade-off... But despite having many aerial predators I rarely lose birds.

Best wishes,
Erica

 

[MyPetNugget]

We have plenty of bushes and trees, plus a wide open space too, but most of them don't care if there are hawks or not. Only Nugget and the rooster run for cover. So I was thinking about getting rid of the hawks.

Our coop is on top of the run, so they are fully protected while in there.

The rooster is not mature yet (14 weeks) and is a buckeye , so they take longer to mature. Right now Nugget is our lead hen but they don't follow her under the bushes unless there is a treat or something. They do follow her around the yard though.

We have not had any problems with predators yet mainly because the coop was VERY well built. And I scan around it every morning to see if any predators were at work overnight. The run is covered under the ground with pallets and chicken wire.

 

[AlaskaGrown]

I read an article on this site that using reflective materials such as cds can help to deter hawks.

Unfortunately I had a goshawk get two of my hens last year, and my wife mentioned that she spotted a few bald eagles from time to time. I added some top cover to their run, but allow them to free range all day. I am going to put some reflectors up and see how well it actually works.