Hubby and I were out in the yard yesterday working, real close to the coop and run. My chickens were all ( 24 ) out in the run, content and happy, and it was a normal day...till
.....
we heard a commotion above us and in a split second the girls and my 3 roos went ballistic
They all scattered to the coop, except for my 3 wonderful brave roos !!
They stood thier ground and kept up the clamor and warning sounds for the girls to stay in the coop!!
We looked up in time to see a hugh Red Tail Hawk nose dive into the run!! He pulled up, just before he swooped in, because of all the trees above the run and the 8 ft fence we thankfully installed !!
But, still...there is an empty enough area where a hawk could possibly get in and back out !! AND...this fall and winter when the leaves are off that big canopy of the oak tree above them, there will be an opening just right for a hawk to swoop in.
So hubby and I went to work immediately....we have a 16x16 run and had no bird netting or the time to go get any.
We had several rolls of heavy twine that he got at work and so, we cut dozens of 17 ft lengths of it and begin to form a grid above the run.....about 10-12 inch squares . Took a long time to do it, but it turned out real nice and we hope this will deter any further hawk attacks.....tomorrow I will go out and enhance it with some ribbons tied at the joints of the ropes to further scare any winged predators....
BTW --- NOW I think I know how my Goldie wound up with a big chunk missing from her back ...I nursed her back to health , but wondered how in the world she could have gotten that wound....NOW I think I know ...a hawk attack !! ?
HOpe this helps anyone who are fighting hawks right now. We have them here especially in the fall and winter so I am so glad we made this grid ########
########
######## for our girls protection!!
.....
They all scattered to the coop, except for my 3 wonderful brave roos !!
We looked up in time to see a hugh Red Tail Hawk nose dive into the run!! He pulled up, just before he swooped in, because of all the trees above the run and the 8 ft fence we thankfully installed !!
But, still...there is an empty enough area where a hawk could possibly get in and back out !! AND...this fall and winter when the leaves are off that big canopy of the oak tree above them, there will be an opening just right for a hawk to swoop in.
So hubby and I went to work immediately....we have a 16x16 run and had no bird netting or the time to go get any.
We had several rolls of heavy twine that he got at work and so, we cut dozens of 17 ft lengths of it and begin to form a grid above the run.....about 10-12 inch squares . Took a long time to do it, but it turned out real nice and we hope this will deter any further hawk attacks.....tomorrow I will go out and enhance it with some ribbons tied at the joints of the ropes to further scare any winged predators....
BTW --- NOW I think I know how my Goldie wound up with a big chunk missing from her back ...I nursed her back to health , but wondered how in the world she could have gotten that wound....NOW I think I know ...a hawk attack !! ?
HOpe this helps anyone who are fighting hawks right now. We have them here especially in the fall and winter so I am so glad we made this grid ########
########
######## for our girls protection!!
