"Garden Eyes" raptor deterrent, does it work?

[kla37]

Has anyone tried the "garden eyes" raptor deterrent? It's a huge yellow inflatable ball with big reflective "eyes" on it. We live in the woods in NC, and my chickens are about 16 weeks old. I really want to let them out for at least a little while every day, but I'm terrified of the hawks getting them. I know we have them, I've seen them almost every day since I moved here, well before we had any chickens. If anyone has tried anything that really worked, please let me know!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

I haven't tried this but somebody has probably done so... it sounds like a great idea.

 

[zazouse]

Well i look at it this way if it don't scare my birds ,it probably ain't gonna scare a bird of pray,

just like them plastic owls, i set one up long ago,my birds and other animals didn't even flinch and it has one of them heads that moves,creepy looking, anyway i had a young hawk park itself on a post 15 feet from that plastic fella ,dove down for a crawfish right in front of the plastic monster.

Just sayin

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Mine are terrified of balloons.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
I have seen them used at fish hatcheries. Effective until avian predators get used to them.

 

[woodmort]

I use one to keep birds out of my blueberries--works for a while but you have to keep moving it around. We'll see if it works for a Cooper Hawk since I put it up yesterday.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Moving will work for a while longer. A pair of Coopers hawks raised chicks in the woods at center of campus every year I was enrolled in college. I checked progess daily from time of pair formation to chicks no longer being fed by adults. Adults became so habituated to people walking around campus that when pursuing birds (starlings, robins etc.) they would nearly fly between your legs and actually try to fly so that a person was between them and targeted quarry until the last second. The people did not even react to the hawks zipping past their knees. The same hawks would casually walk on ground picking up sticks along sidewalk even as people walked by. Again the people did not even respond to the little red-eyed dinos almost at their feet. Coopers readily habituate to people and likely to other "scarecrows" we might use.

 

[greyartist]

If you find something that works please tell us. I too am in NC and my coop is under large trees. Makes for cool summers with the shade but also a handy place for hawks to perch waiting to strike. I was letting my birds out in the evening after work until I lost 2 good hens to hawks right next to the coop. Poor things are "cooped" up now for their own safety. I hear hawks calling in the mornings so still can't let them out.

 

[kla37]

Quote:
Let me know if it works, will you? I only have 8 hens and one rooster, and I really don't want to lose any, but I feel guilty about keeping them penned. I may just try to let them out only in the evenings when I can be out there with them, or the dog. I don't know how much of a deterrent the dog would be....she's not scary or vicious at all. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Greyartist, where in NC are you? I'm right in the triangle in Hillsborough, and we're buried in the woods. I do love the shade in the summer, but I feel like my chicken coop is a buffet that the hawks are waiting for...

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
Sounds like "my" Cooper. He will fly around me n our birds to attack the smaller birds. He even walks around on the ground with my chickens and call ducks - my fowl treat him like he is a parrot.