Hawk Attack Thwarted!

[Folly's place]

Joe, I don't see any window openings in your plan?! More light and ventilation will be needed.
Make a structure that you can walk into, not crawl around instead. Too short is miserable on a daily basis, and extra size and height are worth the extra money. Are you going to be crawling under it?
Mary

 

[JoeInPA]

I think it is awesome that you are trying to fix the situation by keeping your birds contained. I am so sad when I hear that people kill protected native predators. Especially beautiful critters that control disease by eliminating rodents. If you remove a predator, another will likely take its place anyway. I free range half of my birds and I accept my losses knowing that it is nature's way. I don't have the heart to kill anything. But, we did relocate a racoon to the gamelands this season after checking with our game warden to make sure it was legal. Later we found out that the culprit that picked off 3 of my chickens was probably a neighborhood dog...I caught him in the act on a 4th. I probably should have let the raccoon stay.

Oh I have no intention of hurting the hawks. I'd love to free range my chickens but they'd likely all be hawk food inside of a day. The hawk's nest is just too close.

Raccoons on the other hand haven't become a problem but if they do I have no problem ousting them. I have a hunting license so I have no issue killing coyotes (which are not native to this area)

Joe, I don't see any window openings in your plan?! More light and ventilation will be needed.
Make a structure that you can walk into, not crawl around instead. Too short is miserable on a daily basis, and extra size and height are worth the extra money. Are you going to be crawling under it?
Mary

These are just the framing plans. It will be covering in sheathing of some sort, and there will be windows, etc. I am not going to be crawling under it. You might notice the one entire side is hinged that it can be opened and easily cleaned out. I don't plan on walking into it, just being able to open the one side door so that I can easily shovel/hose out the inside. The one door on the back side will flip up just above the nesting boxes for east access to eggs. I will have a light installed for heat in the winter time.

 

[goldysgirl]

Oh I have no intention of hurting the hawks. I'd love to free range my chickens but they'd likely all be hawk food inside of a day. The hawk's nest is just too close.

Raccoons on the other hand haven't become a problem but if they do I have no problem ousting them. I have a hunting license so I have no issue killing coyotes (which are not native to this area)


These are just the framing plans. It will be covering in sheathing of some sort, and there will be windows, etc. I am not going to be crawling under it. You might notice the one entire side is hinged that it can be opened and easily cleaned out. I don't plan on walking into it, just being able to open the one side door so that I can easily shovel/hose out the inside. The one door on the back side will flip up just above the nesting boxes for east access to eggs. I will have a light installed for heat in the winter time.

Sounds like a good design and similar to my coop! My husband also hunts and offered to dispatch the raccoon as that is also legal. It was just so cute...didn't growl or anything in the trap. Just looked up at me with its beady little eyes. I just don't have the heart haha.

 

[JoeInPA]

Sounds like a good design and similar to my coop! My husband also hunts and offered to dispatch the raccoon as that is also legal. It was just so cute...didn't growl or anything in the trap. Just looked up at me with its beady little eyes. I just don't have the heart haha.

I hope it works out. I got started on it today. I'm an animal lover too, but I don't have much sympathy for anything in the rodent or reptile categories. I'd feel bad about killing the coyotes if they weren't so overly aggressive. I lost a pet cat to coyote a few years ago. Here's where I left off on the chicken coop for tonight. It's way overbuilt but I can't bring myself to build flimsy stuff, even if it is just for chickens.

 

[goldysgirl]

I hope it works out. I got started on it today. I'm an animal lover too, but I don't have much sympathy for anything in the rodent or reptile categories. I'd feel bad about killing the coyotes if they weren't so overly aggressive. I lost a pet cat to coyote a few years ago. Here's where I left off on the chicken coop for tonight. It's way overbuilt but I can't bring myself to build flimsy stuff, even if it is just for chickens.

View attachment 1897840

Nice! Mine is overbuilt, too. The corners are 4×4s and go from ground to roof. It is raised off the ground a couple of feet, the 4x4s extend through the floor and on to a couple o 4x4 skis so it can be moved if needed. My first coop is cemented in the ground in the woods. I wish it was not out there because of ticks and falling trees, but there is no way to move it.

 

[Raven72ab]

I hope it works out. I got started on it today. I'm an animal lover too, but I don't have much sympathy for anything in the rodent or reptile categories. I'd feel bad about killing the coyotes if they weren't so overly aggressive. I lost a pet cat to coyote a few years ago. Here's where I left off on the chicken coop for tonight. It's way overbuilt but I can't bring myself to build flimsy stuff, even if it is just for chickens.

View attachment 1897840

My friends joked about my chicken coup saying that I built them a chicken mansion not a coup. I can't cheap out on things I build.

 

[Folly's place]

Better built building do last so much longer, and keep out predators much better too. Flimsy is not good!
Mary

 

[EggWalrus]

He didn't try to dive into it, he was trying to pull the wire off of the frame. Son of a b! I think I'm going to upgrade to hardware cloth anyways. I don't want to take any chances. I just feel bad for the chickens right now, I'm sure they are absolutely terrified.

Here is my run-

View attachment 1897336

I haven't constructed my coop yet, but I'm going to start tonight or tomorrow. Here is the basic design although it'll probably change a bit as I build it. Obviously it'll be covered in sheeting of some sort.

View attachment 1897339

How may chickens do you have or will have?
That little dog cage sized red thing needs to be bigger if you plan on having more than 2 chickens. Their run needs to be a lot bigger than their coop and that's barely big enough for a small coop.
As for the hawk, if you know where is nest is, you don't have to kill the hawk, but destroy it's nest so it will move on. If it rebuilds close, destroy the new nest too till it goes somewhere else. I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but if you only have 3 or 4 birds to fit in that tiny cage, you won't have any birds left after a few weeks with a hungry hawk near by.
I'm not trying to sound mean, just realistic. I'm sure you are in love with your new birds but if you want what's best for them you might want to do a little more research on coop size, Sq ft/bird in coop and Sq ft in run, and definitely about the 3 S's when it comes to anything that threatens your beloved birds/livestock. I would use the 3 S's on the hawk myself, ask someone if you don't know what that is. Good luck to you and your birds.

 

[JoeInPA]

How may chickens do you have or will have?
That little dog cage sized red thing needs to be bigger if you plan on having more than 2 chickens. Their run needs to be a lot bigger than their coop and that's barely big enough for a small coop.
As for the hawk, if you know where is nest is, you don't have to kill the hawk, but destroy it's nest so it will move on. If it rebuilds close, destroy the new nest too till it goes somewhere else. I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but if you only have 3 or 4 birds to fit in that tiny cage, you won't have any birds left after a few weeks with a hungry hawk near by.
I'm not trying to sound mean, just realistic. I'm sure you are in love with your new birds but if you want what's best for them you might want to do a little more research on coop size, Sq ft/bird in coop and Sq ft in run, and definitely about the 3 S's when it comes to anything that threatens your beloved birds/livestock. I would use the 3 S's on the hawk myself, ask someone if you don't know what that is. Good luck to you and your birds.

Not try to sound mean, but do you have your glasses on?

I actually did quite a bit of research I on coop and run size before I did any construction. The run (the red dog cage) is 64 square feet, 8 foot by 8 foot. I have 5 birds, so that is way more than the rule of thumb 8-10 square feet that most people recommend. How big do you think it should be? The coop I'm building is 20 square feet, again, more than the 2-3 square feet that most people recommend.

 

[JoeInPA]

My friends joked about my chicken coup saying that I built them a chicken mansion not a coup. I can't cheap out on things I build.

My dad was a carpenter so what I know I've learned from him. He's taught me a lot about building houses for people but not much about houses for chickens!