This is not meant to provoke anyone or to be antagonistic. I used some of this material on a "reply" post earlier. I hope it is legal to post it again.
Many folks feel that predators have a right to kill their stock if they manage to get past their best attempts of repelling them. They give the predator the right to kill but, choose to make their stock always and only a victim! The chicken, duck or turkey can justifiably be killed but noooo, don't kill the killer. That stance is fine as long as their opinion affects only THEIR stock. Some use catch phrases like "live-and-let-live", "it's what predators do", or they say "they're part of the ecosystem". Well, botulism, e-coli and anthrax have been part of the ecosystem for many years also. But, I don't want them intruding into my life. Not being mean spirited but, when people use terminology like ecosystem or, live-and-let-live, we should remember that the survival-of-the-fittest doctrine is purely THE WAY of nature or, the ecosystem if you will. Only humans make the conscious choice to place ourselves or, our stock, in a LOWER position on the food chain. I believe in taking any legal means to prevent a killer from killing your stock.
Hardly anyone ever quotes some "humane" doctrine when referring to ants, rats or moles. We tend to take the "righteous route" when it comes to an animal as stately and beautiful as a hawk or, as cute-n-cuddly as a raccoon or fox. Once a person witnesses how absolutely horrible the death of a chicken is by fox, raccoon or by hawk, they usually overcome any sentimental feelings about these killers. These three literally tear their victims apart piece-by-piece while still alive. It takes a while for them to finally die, screaming the whole while. Neighbors show up at my house all the time looking for trapping or killing advice, with a new-found disdain for predators, after seeing their lovely chickens, littering the yard, killed just for the joy of killing. Many times with just the heads of only a couple eaten off. There is nothing exotic or mysterious about these killers. Your chickens deserve your very best efforts to be protected from them!
Relocating predators is wrong on many levels.
We keep chickens at a few rural locations. We hunt wild Russian boars very near to EVERY place we keep our chickens. Dozens of raccoons, possums and rabbits frequent the feeders we have for the hogs. We do not shoot or in any way harm these animals. I only kill those predators that come into our poultry-keeping areas.
Hawks are a serious problem where we live! I do not harm hawks because it is a FEDERAL violation to do so. If it were not, I'd kill them also. We made some small NETTING pavilion-like shelters, open on all 4 sides, about 24-inches off the ground, for my chickens to run under when under aerial attack. I pull palm fronds into strips and weave it through the webbing to hide the chickens from view and to give the chickens a sense of being concealed. I stake them down ridiculously strong because of their kite-like design. At the first alarm call from the rooster, the others make a beeline for the shelters! My wife wants to plant some small shrubs/vegetable greens around the shelters to help soften the effect. The shrubs should also help keep the hawks from walking into the shelters on foot.
It is quiet legal to harrass hawks and other fed birds it works fairly well if done for just a little while there have been recent advancments in the way they are Harassed and it is working really well
