Hawk Deterent - cayenne pepper?

[Nambroth]

Birds lack the taste receptors for the chemical in peppers that we perceive as burning. That means that hot peppers are not a deterrent.

This is 100% accurate. Anyone trying this method is wasting time, spices, and a chicken carcass...

Edit: Some sources, in case my word isn't enough.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns...them-to-eat-vast-amounts-and-spread-the-seeds
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6647520
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/capgen.html


Quote: (source: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=vpc18 [PDF] )

 

[Tazman99]

I highly doubt pepper would work, like someone else said they don't get deterred by hot or spicy foods, the best thing to do is keep your chickens covered, or risk losing some.

I've also heard of people say that a Crow would drive away hawks and most other birds of prey, so maybe you should look into 'feeding' a crow so it helps you, sure, it may take a few eggs, and it may go after your young small chicks, but I would rather lose a few eggs than my entire flock.

But don't take my word for it, research it, I may be wrong.

 

[heybarb]

Thank you all for the thoughts and comments...I haven't tried it yet and I'm not sure I will, but my neighbor did say that the pepper would fly all over the hawk, not that the hawk would eat the pepper, so I don't know if or how that changes the scenario. Like one of the first responses suggested, it seems like a lot of work for something that may or may not work.

 

[centrarchid]

This is 100% accurate. Anyone trying this method is wasting time, spices, and a chicken carcass...

Edit: Some sources, in case my word isn't enough.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns...them-to-eat-vast-amounts-and-spread-the-seeds
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6647520
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/capgen.html


(source: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=vpc18 [PDF] )

I do not consider the works cited above as conclusive with respect to OP's interest. Studies did not involve raptors which are very distinct from song / perching birds groups studied. To do this right someone with a red-tailed hawk, which at least a couple parties on this cite have, should be used to test reaction to pepper. Rigor needed to back up such strong statements .

 

[janinepeters]

but my neighbor did say that the pepper would fly all over the hawk, not that the hawk would eat the pepper, so I don't know if or how that changes the scenario.

So I guess the theory here would be that hot pepper would irritate the hawk's eyes, and that enough pepper would get into its eyes?

 

[bethbug74]

Ahahahahahahahahahaha! Birds can't taste hot. That's why people put hot pepper powder in bird feed to deter squirrels. Good lord, it's ridiculous what people "know" because their grandmother "knew" it too. It woul be funny f google didn't exist...but it's just kind of sad when it does.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Best Hawk deterrant I have had were the ravens, they are so territorial I have seen our resident pair pull the tailfeathers out of the bald eagles when they fly over the farm.

But with them you either keep them fed, or raven proof your eggs and juvenile birds otherwise they help themself. The one male figured how to swoop in under the netting and walk into the coop and clean all the eggs out of the nests last summer.

Either I feed them my excess rooster chicks, ground squirrles I have shot or I bring meat scraps from the local butcher and put them on a fence post on the edge of the pastures. They see me walking to the feeding post and get all antsy.
This summer I fed them so many ground squirrles they actually stopped eating for a few days

.

The chickens, ducks and geese were safe all summer, only bird of prey that got past the ravens was a little sharp-shinned hawk and they are too small to take on adult birds and rather go for the songbirds.

 

[josebeth1]

Two comments:
I've always had tropical birds, at present 2 macaws, and have never seen them show any indication whatsoever that they feel the "hot" in peppers. Given that I'm married to a Mexican man whose favorite thing is to see how much "hot" he can stand and always keeps the freezer full of habaneros.....well, nuff said on that one!!

fancyfowl also is right on!! That same husband of mine has been cultivating a multi-generational family of crows on our property for 8 years now and that was initially started to help keep the songbirds alive long before we had chickens and swans. The crows nest way back behind the back pasture but come up to the front of the house to get fed every morning. When I'm up on time, it cracks me up to see them waiting in "their" special tree, anywhere on the average from 2-8 birds, with all eyes staring at the corner of the garage where he walks out. At the right time of year, we also have a returning pair of Canada geese and our odd-ball pair of ducks (female mallard who always shows up with the brassiest little male wood duck) These same birds have all been showing up for years......the female mallard has a very distinctive limp, one of the geese has an odd-shaped white patch on the top of the head, and it's obvious that the crows teach each new batch of little ones the feed system here. All of these birds show up just before 8am every day, and all watch the that spot on the garage where hubby walks out with food in hand. (Food for the crows, by the way, is usually old leftovers of pretty much anything we're not going to eat anymore)

We have watched the crows go after the hawks countless times, often alerted by the blue jays, and they are relentless. We have also seen them chase the bad guys in conjunction with our Great Pyrenese on the ground. It is absolutely fascinating to watch because it is so obvious that they all know exactly what they're doing.

If you've never heard of the studies done on crow intelligence (and supposedly ravens are even smarter!), then google "University of Washington crow study". Pretty amazing stuff!!

 

[feathers4fun]

Two comments:
I've always had tropical birds, at present 2 macaws, and have never seen them show any indication whatsoever that they feel the "hot" in peppers. Given that I'm married to a Mexican man whose favorite thing is to see how much "hot" he can stand and always keeps the freezer full of habaneros.....well, nuff said on that one!!

fancyfowl also is right on!! That same husband of mine has been cultivating a multi-generational family of crows on our property for 8 years now and that was initially started to help keep the songbirds alive long before we had chickens and swans. The crows nest way back behind the back pasture but come up to the front of the house to get fed every morning. When I'm up on time, it cracks me up to see them waiting in "their" special tree, anywhere on the average from 2-8 birds, with all eyes staring at the corner of the garage where he walks out. At the right time of year, we also have a returning pair of Canada geese and our odd-ball pair of ducks (female mallard who always shows up with the brassiest little male wood duck) These same birds have all been showing up for years......the female mallard has a very distinctive limp, one of the geese has an odd-shaped white patch on the top of the head, and it's obvious that the crows teach each new batch of little ones the feed system here. All of these birds show up just before 8am every day, and all watch the that spot on the garage where hubby walks out with food in hand. (Food for the crows, by the way, is usually old leftovers of pretty much anything we're not going to eat anymore)

We have watched the crows go after the hawks countless times, often alerted by the blue jays, and they are relentless. We have also seen them chase the bad guys in conjunction with our Great Pyrenese on the ground. It is absolutely fascinating to watch because it is so obvious that they all know exactly what they're doing.

If you've never heard of the studies done on crow intelligence (and supposedly ravens are even smarter!), then google "University of Washington crow study". Pretty amazing stuff!!

I'm curious to hear more about encouraging crows to hang out, near our house, on a regular basis. We do have them around and have observed them chasing hawks away. What seem to be their favorite foods and where is the food placed for them?

 

[DianaMallory]

If you free range your birds then accept the fact that you are putting them out there in the natural food chain. If you don't want to feed your birds to the hawk then pen them up! In a completely enclosed run, with hardware cloth. I live in the woods I have to many predators, I have fed 2 flocks to predators and don't plan to feed anymore. We killed 25 coons last summer. And I chased off a coopers hawk 3 times. He kept looking for a way into my flock. With no success! I only free range when I am standing right there with my flock and I let them out in a slightly fenced in area enough to contain them.. So I don't have to chase them in the woods.