Eagles & Hawks!!!!

[Lilywater101]

Hi everyone, I had posted a topic here a few days earlier about finding one of the bodies of my hens with her head gone and this attack had happened in the middle of the day....well my neighbor stopped me the other day and told me that she had seen the animal that had killed my hen and she believed that it was an EAGLE!!

Well for the past few days I have numerous mumbers of hawks and even the eagle revist time after time..my poor chickens are locked up most of the time and are only allowed to free-range when I can supervise them. Im thinking of covering theirr run with wire on the top so at least they wont have to be cooped up all day..What is the best wire for hawks and eagles?

So sad when you lose a chicken to a predator but even more sad when you cant let out your chickens to free-range, especially when they are so used to it and love it..but oh well what can you do when you hawks and eagles....

 

[peacockfarmer1]

i would definatly put a top on the run i did and it kept all pretatory birds out
i also bought a electric fence to put around it and never had another problem with opposums, raccoons, cats, or hawks again

 

[Whimsy]

I have heavy flight netting on my run. I have watched the hawks bounce off it.

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

My run is chicken wire--bottom to top. I live in an area with hawks, coyotes, foxes, owls, coons, and dogs (did I miss anything?

) and haven't lost any of my chickens yet.

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
With that array of predators, you have been very lucky! Most on your list could tear right through chicken wire like it isnt even there. You need to get some welded wire up (at least around the bottom) ASAP!

 

[gsim]

Quote:
With that array of predators, you have been very lucky! Most on your list could tear right through chicken wire like it isnt even there. You need to get some welded wire up (at least around the bottom) ASAP!

Amen to that one. You are on borrowed time.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Ordinary chicken wire is great for keeping birds out including hawks and owls. You can order it in 6 ft tall rolls of 100 ft at your co-op or tractor supply store. Buy some small gauge soft tie wire to lace it together, and come up with a pressure treated pine support structure to run down the middle of the run to keep the chicken wire from sagging down. Some netting comes in 25 ft widths, but it is not as durable as chicken wire.

Gerry

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

I suppose that I should have clarified a bit more. My coop is right by the house, so pretty much anything wild isn't going to go near it in the daylight, except possibly the hawks. And I am religious about closing them up in the coop as soon as it gets dark out because I do worry about the possibility of coons coming through if they are out. My coop is as tight as Fort Knox when it comes to predators and has hardware cloth over the windows and vents. The only thing that I ever get concerned about are the domestic dogs (why the people in my neighborhood see nothing wrong with letting them run free is beyond me). So far, though, they've left the chickens alone and just play with my dogs when they come in the yard.

I'm curious how many people have ever actually had a predator tear apart chicken wire? I know it is one of those "common knowledge" things but, honestly, the way mine is stretched and stapled onto a wood frame, I don't think *I* could go through it. I understand the concern with predators like coons and hawks reaching through to grab something but, again, short of a really strong dog or really small animal, I just don't see anything getting in that run.

 

[ozark hen]

We live with red tailed hawks all year long here and in the winter months eagles. I have kept chickens/poultry going on four years now and have never lost one to a hawk.
I learned when I joined up here the best way (and cheapest) to cover my run from Speckled Hen. Here is my set up in the winter months.

We unroll a round bale of hay to keep the ground from freezing and to keep the poultry's feet up off the mud, etc. Plenty of seeds to scratch for, plus lots of insects live under that heavy blanket of hay. In very early spring green things pop up under the hay for them to nibble at.
I have used filament line to stretch across the run and hang cd's on them. You don't need too many. Predators from the sky will not or can not swoop into the run, which is fifty feet long. They don't just "drop" down, they need to "swoop" and the wire and cd's prevent them from doing so. This has worked for me ever since I started raising poultry. You can do a bit of research and see Speckled Hen's set up, too.

Added: the red box is out of there now and is being used as a dog house for two huge dogs.

 

[Lofty Dreams]

I'm glad I have a huge coop.