Hawk attack

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Chicken is on everyone's menu, but good management will minimize risk. Here in southern Michigan I consider hawks a real but occasional problem. Bigger breeds of birds are safer, and if I loose a bird to a hawk, or see one scoping out the flock, the chickens don't free range for ten days or more, until that particular hawk moves onj. I also have trees and shrubs near the coop for shelter, and the birds learn to watch and hide. Never had a snake in the coop, and the birds are busy small velociraptors as far as small critters are concerned during the day. My coop is VERY secure as long as no bears move here. The worst losses I've had were to a sick fox who hunter in daytime; he killed ten nice hens one afternoon, in view of a neighbor's workman who did nothing !

The fox met his end later that week, very sad all around. Night time predators are the worst; raccoon, foxes, possums, some times weasels. A sake coop fixes that problem, and some trap and shoot if needed. Breed selection helps too; no Silkies, Polish, or frizzles here. I want the birds to be able to fly a bit and be alert. Your cat might help with rodent control, and needs to NOT feast on baby chicks! The dog has to learn that chickens are yours and not his toys, or be kept separate. Free range birds are at some risk, but can be managed well, depending on your neighborhood/ neighbors/ fencing situation. Mary

 

[FoskeyFarm]

Thank you so much! Yes our Boxer will have to learn to be careful, he has had to do that with our rabbit who now runs our household. My cat has already eaten a few corn snakes and we are in a neighborhood with a field behind it so not directly in a field. My neighbor told me of another neighbor who had a problem with snakes eating full size Rhode Island Red hens which everyone I've talked to about it thinks that is false info. Maybe they just don't want us to get more chickens in the neighborhood. Do you have to keep food in the coop? I would like to avoid it all together and just feed the hens every morning bright and early with the kids and let the hens eat the fruit and fire ants we have a lot of. I have several small fruit trees that we couldn't even harvest last year because everything had been eaten through and eded up rotting while still on the tree. I'm trying to find some DE in our area to help with those pests but would love to have an army of hens to remedy the problem all together. Thanks again!

 

[MrHodari]

I was away today and received a panicked phone call from my wife. Says the chickens were just attacked and to get home.
She says she heard a commotion outside with the chickens running crazy around the yard and then noticed a "hawk" perched on the hen house and many dozens of crows flying around and perched on the fence and the neighbors house. The "hawk" was described to be what I think was a Peregrine falcon, and a little smaller than the chickens.
There was an area next to the coop that had a larger than normal amount of feathers scattered around, but not sure what an attack would really look like if it got its talons into one of the chickens. None were bleeding or injured that we could tell, but were clearly shaken.
We have let them have the run of the back yard since we got them in the Spring, but are fearful for them now. Thinking we should fence them in a little smaller area and put a netting over the top of it all.
Should we really be overly concerned about the chickens being taken by a raptor here in Western Washington? We have three good sized Rhode Island Reds.

I have 3 Rhodebar's I just had a close call YESTERDAY... If it weren't for a quick jump by the Hen on top the pecking order she would have been done for! It lasted just a few seconds but very traumatizing for them!... How do I know all this happened?.... I was 15 ft away from them when it happened! I was under a tree cutting some wire for the coop, where it couldn't see me, and saw it swoop down out the corner of my eye... Had I not been there I would have one less bird! As soon as I stood up and yelled out it flew away. Thankfully none were physically injured! Now I feel like I'm being watched by this hawk! A few weeks ago my son saved a pigeon from the same hawk by trowing a lemon at it. They are very smart and study before they attack. A secure enclosure is mandatory!

 

[Betsy57]

Came home tonight and something got my Khaki Campbell drake, Disco, and my Black Swedish. No indication of any struggle. No feathers, blood, etc. Still have my Black Cayuga. I am assuming a hawk. And my kitty is missing. Not doing too good right now. Chickens all seem to be okay. I've seen a lot of hawks here and knew this day would come but not happy. I hope my cat comes home. Kitty home this morning at 6 am and okay thankfully. Looks like it was a big coyote or bobcat, not a hawk. Found big foot prints in the mud this morning, feathers and a little bit of blood on the razor wire fence. So whatever came up during the day to snatch these ducks out of their electrified razor wired fence! This is WAR.

 

[debp]

Just thought I'd post a picture of what I ended up doing to cover the run to keep out hawks and owls


. So far (about a month now), so good. We pre-drilled holes and screwed in hooks, then wove the netting over metal conduit and hung those from the hooks. I tied the net down around the fence with zip ties, but if I were to do it again, I might use something more easily removed and replaced than zip ties. I used a cheap net (25X50 ft. for about $40). It held up under quite a bit of snow, and the wind doesn't seem to bother it, but we haven't had any real tests of its strength yet.

 

[Betsy57]

My neighbor installed light wire like an umbrella with no fabric. He put up a pole in the middle of his fenced in yard and then took wire from the pole to various places on the fence. Like an umbrella with no fabric. It has kept out hawks but he had a squirrel bite off half the wattle of his rooster.

 

[chickchoon1]

Just thought I'd post a picture of what I ended up doing to cover the run to keep out hawks and owls


. So far (about a month now), so good. We pre-drilled holes and screwed in hooks, then wove the netting over metal conduit and hung those from the hooks. I tied the net down around the fence with zip ties, but if I were to do it again, I might use something more easily removed and replaced than zip ties. I used a cheap net (25X50 ft. for about $40). It held up under quite a bit of snow, and the wind doesn't seem to bother it, but we haven't had any real tests of its strength yet.

This pic gave me more concrete ideas(very sorry for your loss O.P.! I am heartbroken also and have lost 6 in 3 weeks). My son just called up to me and I went downstairs and hawk, a Coopers, was sitting on kennel panel(6' tall) watching (at my predicted 3-5 pm timeline) so scared her off. I walked my dead chickens back to drop them appx. 70 yards and was screamed at by a Coopers the whole way. It took my chickens appx 1 week to lay again(have 30 hens) and am very angry at myself for not protecting them well enough these last few weeks. Busy,NO money but the above pic looks like an excellent way to get it up at the height I need.

 

[kyexotics]

After losing a few to hawks some years ago, all coops have been covered in aviary netting...





Haven't lost one to a hawk since! between that and the Great Pyranees we added for ground security, we haven't even seen a predator where it was almost daily...

 

[lynnehd]

My neighbor installed light wire like an umbrella with no fabric. He put up a pole in the middle of his fenced in yard and then took wire from the pole to various places on the fence. Like an umbrella with no fabric. It has kept out hawks but he had a squirrel bite off half the wattle of his rooster.

Do you know how far apart your neighbor spaced the wires apart as they fanned out from the central pole?

Lots of good ideas here!

 

[Betsy57]

My neighbor installed light wire like an umbrella with no fabric. He put up a pole in the middle of his fenced in yard and then took wire from the pole to various places on the fence. Like an umbrella with no fabric. It has kept out hawks but he had a squirrel bite off half the wattle of his rooster.

No. You would just have to try it and see how far apart the wires/rope is. You would want to make sure it is close enough at the fence so a bird's wingspan wouldn't be able to get through. I think most birds would see that and not try it for fear of getting trapped. Trial and error I imagine. I can ask him and see what he says.