A friend of mine with several hundred chickens was losing way too many birds to owls and hawks. None of us have ever had much success anywhere with stopping them, other than covered pens.
He really likes the "electric chicken fencing" as a viable way to free range his chickens. No protection from the raptors though. We live in an area with a huge fishing industry. Old monofilament gillnet is easy to come by. So, he got a couple of hundred feet of torn-up old mullet net. We set several nets out using two vertical pipes spaced 20-30 yards apart with the net tied between them. We pull the net tight so the birds don't get entangled in them. He and his wife have witnessed two hawks fly smack into the net, get knocked silly, quickly recover and fly away. One of his dogs nearly got to the second one.
If you have the means to try this, be sure to stretch the netting tight, otherwise you may actually catch the bird in it. I know our situation is somewhat unique due to the availability of old netting here. But, maybe some multiple strands of monofilament line, strung strategically might help. They obviously can't see it very well. And, we still have no idea how well it's working at night on the owls.
I had no idea that birds had struck the netting. They have only been up a few weeks. He just called today to let me know of the two incidents. No guarantees that the problem is permanently solved. But, the fact that we knocked two of these stinkin killers out of the sky is very satisfying!
Oh, how I wish it was legal to......
He really likes the "electric chicken fencing" as a viable way to free range his chickens. No protection from the raptors though. We live in an area with a huge fishing industry. Old monofilament gillnet is easy to come by. So, he got a couple of hundred feet of torn-up old mullet net. We set several nets out using two vertical pipes spaced 20-30 yards apart with the net tied between them. We pull the net tight so the birds don't get entangled in them. He and his wife have witnessed two hawks fly smack into the net, get knocked silly, quickly recover and fly away. One of his dogs nearly got to the second one.
If you have the means to try this, be sure to stretch the netting tight, otherwise you may actually catch the bird in it. I know our situation is somewhat unique due to the availability of old netting here. But, maybe some multiple strands of monofilament line, strung strategically might help. They obviously can't see it very well. And, we still have no idea how well it's working at night on the owls.
I had no idea that birds had struck the netting. They have only been up a few weeks. He just called today to let me know of the two incidents. No guarantees that the problem is permanently solved. But, the fact that we knocked two of these stinkin killers out of the sky is very satisfying!
Oh, how I wish it was legal to......
