Hawk Attack Attempt

[uranni31]

Can a hawk rip/tear through hardware cloth? It's only been a week of my 9 week old girls outside and a hawk came out of no where and landed on the roof of the run that is covered overhead with hardware cloth. My girls were so scared one of them got a cut on her beak (probably running and ran into something).

 

[sourland]

Hawks can reach through chicken wire, but can not tear through hardware cloth. They can scare birds to the point that they injure themselves flying into the coop/pen/wire.

 

[uranni31]

Hawks can reach through chicken wire, but can not tear through hardware cloth. They can scare birds to the point that they injure themselves flying into the coop/pen/wire.

That is exactly what happened. I am glad we examined the birds and saw one was bleeding because that would have been another problem. When we put the one who we cleaned off back, we found another one that had a small dot of blood on her beak. They ran into their coop and won't come out now. I am glad that they at lease no where safety is; they have only been out a week.

 

[cmom]

I agree. Your birds appear to be secure. A hawk will kill if given the chance. All of my pens are covered but I had used come zip ties and they deteriorated and there was a gap I wasn't aware of. I had some errands to one day and knew I would be gone for quite awhile. When I got home the birds were fussing unusual so I went to investigate. There was a Red Tail hawk in their pen and several bodies. My first thought was to get the hawk out. I was careful and carefully got the netting back enough at the far end of the pen to let the hawk out. Then I put the netting back up and retrieved the bodies. They were all pullets not far from starting to lay. A few birds died within the next couple of days from their injuries. I went in and this time put hog rings where the zip ties had been and went along all of the netting to make sure no more gaps and more hog rings.
Here are a few of the bodies I took out of the pen. I'm sure the birds were really freaked out and I felt so bad that I didn't notice the gap and protect them better. No more zip ties.

 

[mowin]

I've had red tail hawks bounce off my hoop run(covered in HC). Gals at first were not even affected buy the attempts. Now, they freak out and egg production suffers for a couple weeks.

 

[uranni31]

I agree. Your birds appear to be secure. A hawk will kill if given the chance. All of my pens are covered but I had used come zip ties and they deteriorated and there was a gap I wasn't aware of. I had some errands to one day and knew I would be gone for quite awhile. When I got home the birds were fussing unusual so I went to investigate. There was a Red Tail hawk in their pen and several bodies. My first thought was to get the hawk out. I was careful and carefully got the netting back enough at the far end of the pen to let the hawk out. Then I put the netting back up and retrieved the bodies. They were all pullets not far from starting to lay. A few birds died within the next couple of days from their injuries. I went in and this time put hog rings where the zip ties had been and went along all of the netting to make sure no more gaps and more hog rings.
Here are a few of the bodies I took out of the pen. I'm sure the birds were really freaked out and I felt so bad that I didn't notice the gap and protect them better. No more zip ties.

I am soo sorry to hear about your loss. It is the last thing you want to find after a long day and after trying all you can think of to secure your birds.

 

[uranni31]

I've had red tail hawks bounce off my hoop run(covered in HC). Gals at first were not even affected buy the attempts. Now, they freak out and egg production suffers for a couple weeks.

I hate that. I hope it don't come back. I plan to put up a fake owl or crow AND a line of string with flying silver tape.

 

[mowin]

I am soo sorry to hear about your loss. It is the last thing you want to find after a long day and after trying all you can think of to secure your birds.

The only thing one can do is what's in the means and budget.

 

[uranni31]

The only thing one can do is what's in the means and budget.

Exactly!!