There's been multiple posts re: raptors and distances traveled by foraging Doms. I have nothing but a small cottage backyard but we still get visits from Crows, wild green Parrots, Cooper's Hawks (chicken hawk), and high-circling Red-tailed Hawks. Something we noticed was that Crows don't bother our chickens or eat our feed - however we don't have chicks or ducklings to tempt Crow attacks. Also when Crows are around they chase off the Cooper's Hawks. The green Parrots are noisy but have never stopped in our yard and the chickens ignore them when they fly overhead doing their noisy Parrot squawks. The Red-tailed Hawks are high-circling and have never landed in our yard. However the Cooper's Hawks are occasional yard visitors. What we've done is set up a pop-up canopy in the backyard, 3 large recycled doghouses, and 2 covered low shelters (plywood planks on top of cinderblocks) for the chickens to use as hiding/snoozing areas during their daily foraging. They even slept under the old wheelbarrow against the fence. A lot of low shelters scattered about the yard gives the hens security from Hawks standing 5-feet away. For some reason the Cooper's don't go after hiding/snoozing hens but will fly mid-air to catch Mourning Doves in flight. Apparently the hawks like open field or open airspace to catch their prey and have never attacked our hiding hens. The breeds we've had in the last 4 years have been Leghorns, Marans, Silkies, Ameraucanas, Breda, and a cute little Dom pullet that died of a seizure before we ever had a chance to integrate her outdoors. We found these breeds all manageable breeds for staying closeby. Wilder temperament birds like Campine-Buttercup types (Braekels breeds), Fayoumi, Jaerhon, Crevecoeur, flighty little bantams, etc etc will be less manageable for staying in the yards or close to home but then they will probably be difficult as predator bait since they are so quick and agile to escape.
