Oh gosh, Catalina, be careful! I live in a "suburban, cul-de-sac area just like you, and never thought about daytime predators, but just being predator-secure at night. Nextdoor there was a big flock of chickens that roamed the neighborhood for the last year and a half and never a one lost to hawks -- in the end though, a lot lost to raccoons when they weren't securely closed in at night.
Anyway, I just found out the hard way about hawks when a couple of weeks ago I lost one of the two 5 month old pullets which I had recently adopted. My first hens! They were free to roam the yard and garden all day but then I came home to find the little one dead and a hawk (Red Tail, Coopers or Sparrow) flew off as I approached. It was really awful!
Some days later, the 20th, we put up a chicken wire enclosure about 20ft by 16ft around the area where the coop is with a 7-8 ft high "roof" of bird netting which one can fit through tree branches and shrubs fairly easily. While the enclosure was being constructed I went to a ranch in Petaluma to get three sweet 3 month old pullets so my poor only, lonely hen Lucy would have a flock again.
Now I'm just hoping that a dive bombing hawk can't blast through the bird netting. I'm in northern California near some of you who have posted and I have never noticed so many hawks around before but maybe it's because I have chickens -- big red tails and others circle overhead on nearly a daily basis. I'm never leaving the girls out to free range around the yard again -- maybe little jaunts outside the enclosure when I'm with them and know they'll follow me back to the enclosure, quickly!!
I'm new to chickens, new to this forum, and new to attaching photos but will try to put one up here of my new enclosure in case anyone's interested.
Kerry
Kentfield, CA
Anyway, I just found out the hard way about hawks when a couple of weeks ago I lost one of the two 5 month old pullets which I had recently adopted. My first hens! They were free to roam the yard and garden all day but then I came home to find the little one dead and a hawk (Red Tail, Coopers or Sparrow) flew off as I approached. It was really awful!
Some days later, the 20th, we put up a chicken wire enclosure about 20ft by 16ft around the area where the coop is with a 7-8 ft high "roof" of bird netting which one can fit through tree branches and shrubs fairly easily. While the enclosure was being constructed I went to a ranch in Petaluma to get three sweet 3 month old pullets so my poor only, lonely hen Lucy would have a flock again.
Now I'm just hoping that a dive bombing hawk can't blast through the bird netting. I'm in northern California near some of you who have posted and I have never noticed so many hawks around before but maybe it's because I have chickens -- big red tails and others circle overhead on nearly a daily basis. I'm never leaving the girls out to free range around the yard again -- maybe little jaunts outside the enclosure when I'm with them and know they'll follow me back to the enclosure, quickly!!
I'm new to chickens, new to this forum, and new to attaching photos but will try to put one up here of my new enclosure in case anyone's interested.
Kerry
Kentfield, CA
