First hawk attack!

[Airyaman]

I have some reflective gadgets spread throughout my "free range" area, and it seems to have kept the hawks at bay. But I have a couple of Marek's inflicted birds with leg problems and I had them sitting in the grass away from area (I try to get them outside a few hours a day to get sun), and a hawk attacked the least mobile of the two pullets. The other has good use of one leg so she was able to hop to safety but the other was basically a "sitting duck" so to speak. Fortunately I heard the others raising a ruckus and I was able to chase the hawk away before it did much harm. She did suffer some small cuts to her wattles, but she is otherwise fine.

The weirdest thing is that the hawk just flew up to a branch and stood there watching us. I thought for sure it would hightail it with me out there, but no way, it looked ready to pounce again. I tossed a piece of wood at it and it flew off.

Fortunately I have a free run that they can get sun in, but it doesn't have grass, so they can't get any fresh greens. Guess it's back to chopping some alfalfa!

 

[tlcmurphy]

Sorry to hear that, but glad she’s OK. Hawks suck, I only free range when I’m home and can run out and chase them off. Then they sit it the trees and mock me as you said.
I’d leave them in the run for a week, that hawk will be back. After that I’ll let my girls back out. I have one girl blind in one eye due to a hawk attack

 

[Airyaman]

Sorry to hear that, but glad she’s OK. Hawks suck, I only free range when I’m home and can run out and chase them off. Then they sit it the trees and mock me as you said.
I’d leave them in the run for a week, that hawk will be back. After that I’ll let my girls back out. I have one girl blind in one eye due to a hawk attack

The one that hopped away is a BA and the one attacked is a Bielefelder. The BA hopped over to the edge of the fenced in area with my other flocks and there were two BJG cockerels next to her. I don't think the hawk was ready to tangle with those two.

 

[McChooky]

Once a predator spots one that can't get around they'll target it.
Glad it escaped this time!

 

[Debbie292d]

Gosh, so lucky you heard the ruckus!

We've got guy wires for a wireless internet tower here, so that keeps them away, but a bald eagle has been testing them and flying in between them. No other hawk or eagle has ever done that. That's pretty daring, as we find a couple of dead birds in our yard per year that hit the wires.

I've heard of some who string heavyweight fishing line between trees, buildings, whatever, about 7' high, so it doesn't interfere with humans, and that supposedly confuses them. I thought our guy wires confused them too but apparently not this particular eagle.

 

[McChooky]

A chicken tractor would be perfect for 3 handicap birds. One grabbed my dads blind hen while she was standing right in front of us. Whatever it was flew out of sight with her

 

[Oliver_Douglas]

Here's a bit of an odd one, perhaps. We have crows, and I know that they will gang up an bully the red tail hawks we have--seen this happen first hand.

And the crows love peanuts--raw in the shall, unroasted--so I built a small platform, on an 8-ft pole, in the pasture, and about 50 ft from the coop, where I occasionally add a pound of peanuts. This successfully attracts the crows, and a few blue jays.

I also have a co2 powered boat horn (loud!) and if/when I see the hawks, I blast it--only time i've ever seem one of those predators act awkwardly--it literally jumped up, wings and legs and feet going every which way, cartoon-like, before recovering and flying off

In the year or so since the peanuts and horn, only 1-2 hawk sightings, no attacks. So can I attribute the success to my scheme? Honestly, not sure. But the "more crows = fewer hawks" strategy appears to be having some effect.

Coyotes, however--no solution for them yet. Boat horn scares them off, but they are stealthy and persistent.

Good luck with it all. For me, it remains this basic tradoff--free range, for health and quality of life, vs. predator risks and need for vigilance. If it got to a point where I had to keep them cooped, than I'd just not keep them anymore.

 

[Folly's place]

When we have a hawk visitation, we lock our birds in their roofed coop/ run combination for at least ten to fourteen days. Once it was over three weeks, until our visiting Cooper's hawk finally gave up and moved on.
Our first birds, when we didn't know what was happening, finally figured out that the hawk was coming back for another bantam about every three days.
They are beautiful birds, but chicken is on the menu often for them.
Surviving chickens learn, and are more careful too.
Mary

 

[Airyaman]

Interestingly enough, I have not seen any hawks since the attack. Sadly, the pullet it attacked did die, but not from the attack, but complications of Marek's.