I wouldn’t say it’s well thought out, more like evolved, adapted over time with lots of research looking at others’ setups, and unfortunately with horrible experience. We haven’t had any attacks (that I know of) since I secured the aviary netting to the ground. I had an attack on two hens, with one death, when I had put up the netting like a canopy over part of the area, and the Red Tail merely went to one side and got under it.
I’ve read about hawks and owls that will just land on a post or frame holding up netting and look to get in, looking for gaps, but we haven’t had that either. They have landed high up on branches of nearby trees to watch, which I’ve eventually seen long after the chickens warn and freeze, but not lately, the resident killer (probably juvenile) Red Tail moved on, and the Coopers mostly hunt elsewhere. But they all soar overhead, which I see, and something flies by through the woods (probably the resident Coopers) next to this open area, the chickens see it and warn, but it I haven’t seen it.
You know, you (and
@BY Bob) have it much harder being in a city /suburban environment, where fear of humans is often reduced or gone. There’s lots of non-chicken prey with little daytime competition there. If you go back in this thread you’ll see that just being outside with them while they’re unprotected has not always been enough to deter an attack by a hungry aerial predator. Bob hasn’t reported lately on it but he used to go out with a powerful nerf-type gun so he could drive one away from across the yard if he had to.
