Eagle's and Hawks Landing in my backyard - going for my chickens & ducks

[tayjamieson]

Hey everyone!
It's been a while since I've been a able to get on but the past 2 days I've had to chase an eagle out of my backyard that was about to grab my pekin's and chickens. I am surrounded by farm lands/crops so my area always has eagles and hawks around. I've been pretty lucky to say they do not typically come into my backyard, just the occasional fly over, but this time the eagles are landing on the ground chasing my babies. My flock size these days are 12 pekin ducks, and 24 chickens - 12 of which are around 4 months old. I would be so devastated if one of these eagles caught one or more of my babies. I've been doing research online but I had to come to my pro's at BYC: How can I keep the eagles AND hawks as well, out of my backyard? I've heard of shiny tape, owl decoys, and a scarecrow. I do have a dog but he is not always outside. I do have 4 coops, lots of fruit tree's on my property that the animals hang under, and they often nap under our boat trailer as well so I think I have enough protective cover areas they can run to but I don't want to leave it up to just them to be safe. If anyone has experience and can tell me what has worked for them, that would be great!

I hope everyone is doing well!! I miss talking with everyone!

-Taylor <3

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey there I am allot south of you but do you have a Rooster or he should be calling his girls yes
I also have from Amazon hook it to anything birds will not want to land but tying stuff to T- post around in places might work
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072K2T6SY/?tag=backy-20

 

[pennyJo1960]

If you have a mid to we do have a great state thread also
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...me-together-washington-peeps.717207/page-4623

 

[aart]

Even 'good cover' is no guarantee, as you've seen they hunt on the ground.

Only sure fired way to protect your birds is a secure run.

Fake owls don't work.

 

[PirateGirl]

Have you looked into kites? They make kites shaped like birds that you put up on a pole and they appear to fly around and are supposed to scare off other birds. I have not used one, but have looked into it some as we have boatloads of hawks in our area.

 

[tayjamieson]

Have you looked into kites? They make kites shaped like birds that you put up on a pole and they appear to fly around and are supposed to scare off other birds. I have not used one, but have looked into it some as we have boatloads of hawks in our area.

Wow I have never heard of that idea but it sounds genius!!! I will have to google where to buy one, it's pretty windy here so I think it would work!

 

[tayjamieson]

Hey there I am allot south of you but do you have a Rooster or he should be calling his girls yes
I also have from Amazon hook it to anything birds will not want to land but tying stuff to T- post around in places might work
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072K2T6SY/?tag=backy-20

We bought 12 more chicks in January and it turned out 2 are roosters! One is a silkie and the other is an Americana. They both have recently started calling out in the morning/during the day - the chickens do a pretty good job of running as soon as they see a predator in the sky but the duck's don't always go under cover in a safe spot. They will quack and call out to everyone but for some reason they don't all take cover like the chickens do!