deterring raptors

sayyadina

Songster
10 Years
May 19, 2009
126
1
109
I was wondering what is the best way to deter hawks & eagles from going after my ducks & geese. We live right on a river, and there's at least 1 family of bald eagles living here. We also see hawks sometimes too. There are also osprey & falcons in the area, but I don't know if they'd go after the ducks & geese.

Right now, I only let them out when someone can sit with them & look out for them. They're all 1 month old now, so the geese really aren't big enough to do much yet. Would having adult geese deter raptors from going after my ducks? What else can I do?

We also have foxes that we see occasionally. People have seen coyotes in the area, but I haven't seen one during the 4 years we've been here.

My duck house & their pasture is pretty secure. Solid wood walls on concrete floor, 19" gauge hardware cloth over the windows & skylight and 1"X2" no climb fence around their pasture. Then there's the perimeter fence, too.
 
I hear that strands of fishing wire zig-zagged over the top of the coop (approximately 2 foot wide openings) will deter hawks. I'm guessing that the hawks will avoid the geese but target the ducks... I don't know though.

I don't think the fox and coyotes will be a problem as long as the ducks and geese are shut in at night. It sounds like the coop is very secure
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I hear cloths line zig zagged - like the fishing line mentioned above - and tin pie plates hanging will deter them. Never tried it - my chickens are only out when I'm around - have a neighboring dog that gets loose now and then and wouldn't chance it getting loose while I;m working to feast on and chase my hens to death.

If I see or hear a hawk, I just round up the girls and put them back in their pen until it leaves the area.

I did hear a fox in the back yard last night though - creepy. put my dog out and it took off in a hurry. glad the girls are locked up at night, but worry about when I'm on vacation and they're left in their run, but not secured in their coop at night
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I know I have predators around - hear the coyotes, hear the fox, see them, too - hawks, bobcats, cats, skunks - (see little dig holes in the yard from skunks looking for grubs) - had an opossum in the coop one night at dusk one time when I was letting them free range - (was wondering why the girls weren't in bed like they should have been when I went to close them up - at least they were smart enough not to go in with it in there !) -

So far i've only had two losses - one I believe was human (when the chickens were young I think a neighbors kid came over to see them while we were away and one got out of the pen) = and the other I believe was opossum - didn't drag the bird very far from the coop - and it's my own fault b/c i had let them free range, went in the house and forgot to go out and close the run and coop. Was lucky it was just the one bird (of course, it had to be my son's bird - and his favorite at that - that was ugly).

I'm sure I'll have more - but I just do my best to try to prevent it. it's all you can do and hope for the best. I feel guilty - b/c if something gets one - it's no one's fault but my own. i'm their keeper so I'm responsible for keeping them safe.
 

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