Eaten by a hawk! How do I keep the hawks away?

[kristeemorris]

I just had my precious girl taken and eaten by a hawk. Now I am afraid the hawk will be back for the others. How do I KEEP it away?

 

[peepsandquackes]

It's illegal to shoot hawks unfortunately... keep a close eye when they are free ranging and put a top over your pen. Hit two tin pie pans together...that scares them away. My lil brothers pop their BB guns. Do you know a hawks cry? If you do you can usually hear it and scare it away before it swoops down. You can listen to them on you tube.

 

[centrarchid]

A lot more information is needed to help figure out options. Pictures really help, especially of run if it is to be covered.

 

[LTygress]

One good idea for covering is landscape net. I have our chicken pen covered in the thick, green landscape net that you find at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's about 4 feet wide, and 25-50 feet long, depending on the size you get.

However, our pen is 21 feet long and 17 feet wide. So we had to get some nylon string and quite literally tie pieces together side-by-side to make one giant net to cover the whole pen (we tied it with a 3-inch piece of string, roughly every 5 holes).

The problem is the weight of it with a pen that large is going to make it sag in the middle. So we got two 8-foot long plastic landscape poles and staple-gunned the plastic net to them to raise it in the middle (the staple keeps it from sliding off of the pole). We didn't bury the poles at all - the weight of the net holds them in place quit well. Then we got $0.89 metal clips with rubber tips to hold the plastic on to the side of the pen itself to keep it from sagging inwards and sliding off of the edge of the pen.


Here's the result:

(The side of the pen is an old above-ground pool siding.)




Another option would be to get the light-weight black plastic netting. But my fear with that was either the chickens getting caught as they flew up, or a hawk getting tangled up as he flew down. It's very thin, which can make it hard to see. I regretted the green palstic at first because the sheer weight causes a lot of sagging. But once I thought about those issues, I'm glad I went with the heavier green, and not the thin black.

 

[kristeemorris]

Wow lots of good info. Thanks

 

[aart]

Netting works good if you don't live where it snows or ices...if you have snowload you need something different.

 

[Kyzmette]

One of the guys in our local thread swears by hanging old CD/DVD/Blueray discs outside around the pen. Apparently something about the flashing light deters hawks.

 

[krapnet]

Once a hawk knows you have chickens, he will be back. only solution is get a covered area for your chickens. buy some hawk proof netting and cover their run. good luck.

 

[Kyzmette]

I just ran across this and it immediately became my new favorite thread!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/631861/diy-thread-lets-see-your-inventions

It has some winged predator ideas which seem pretty easy, if you're de-hawking a controlled area.