Hawk Deterent - cayenne pepper?

[Nambroth]

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?

How to encourage crows depends largely on the local crows and how acclimatized to people and such they are. I live in the country and the crows around here have been shot at, so they are nervous around people. It took me two years to earn their trust enough that they will stay in trees when I am outside, for example. Crows that are in more suburban areas may be much less afraid.

Generally, my method has been to give them protein scraps that the chickens don't get. Meat scraps, trimmings, bones with bits still attached, etc. I have found it best to put the scraps out, away from the house and chicken coop, in a highly visible area, and first thing in the morning. The idea is that you want to give the crows time to find the snacks before dark (after dark, meat scraps will attract critters that you DON'T want around!). I don't have meat scraps often, so it's perhaps every other week or so, but the crows have learned to look every morning to see if there is anything for them. The idea is to present to crows that you are an irregular food source, and it's worth checking your property out every day. If there are pine trees nearby, you may be fortunate enough to have some nest there, in which case I have found that crows will NOT tolerate birds of prey near nest sites in the spring and early/mid summer.
I put scraps out away from my house, on a wood pile at the edge of the woods. I always use the same spot so that the crows know where to look. I do not actually want to encourage them to investigate my coop (their presence in my yard is quite good enough), nor do I want to accidentally draw any other critters in toward my coop or home.

Some cautions:
- Be aware that putting meat scraps out might not be exactly legal if you are in urban or suburban areas. I am not encouraging you to break any laws, but do.. erm, be discreet if necessary.
- Be aware that meat scraps might encourage other animals to visit, but note that once crows know to look for food on your property, they will clean it up before anything else can get to it!!
- Be aware that hungry crows (especially ones with babies to feed) will take small chicks or eggs. It's always in your best interest to protect small chicks, though!
- Please don't feed a lot of 'junk' to wild animals... though it can be tempting to lure them in with cheap white bread or stale leftover sugary cereal, feeding much of this to crows or other wild animals (or even our chickens) is detrimental to their health. Wild animals need good nutrition to survive. I'm not suggesting feeding them prime rib!! Just limit processed human foods such as bread, and sugary/ salty snacks. If you care at all for their health, especially don't give them during nesting season, as babies need a lot of good nutrition to develop properly.
Crows also love peanuts, but so do a lot of other animals, so try peanuts if the crows are actively in the area and will snatch them right away. By the way, jays can be just as good as crows are at warning about hawks...! Jays love peanuts, too. I recommend getting unsalted, in-shell peanuts.
- Crows are just a deterrent and an early warning system. They are not foolproof. Use them in conjunction with other methods to protect your chickens from raptors.

 

[feathers4fun]

Thank you for the great crow info. I'll be trying some of these. We live in the country and the crows arund here aren't real fearful. Hope to entice a few more!

 

[animals1981]

center what on earth are you talking about? thats not even legal.


Try a few fake owls and see what happens it really scared the racoons lol

 

[Hangtown Farms]

ok first off. I do not believe in keeping crows or Ravens around. It sounds like a god idea but they will eat eggs and young birds.
They may help chase off hawks but for me. I live in the woods. Have not had any issues land predators and have quite a few resident crows. I also have many Hawks.
There is one Red tail that is picking off my chickens.
Once a Resident Hawk gets a taste of chicken , chicken moves to the top of there Diet.
The crow chases the Hawk off sometimes but he comes back.
In California you can harass the hawk but not kill him. Unless it attacks you or your family. That would be a separete discussion I am sure and you should speak to your local Wardens about that.
I thought I had him scared off when I shot in his general direction. Gun shots scare them away. He did however come back and kill another chicken.
Covered runs are not always practical and though you expect to loose a chicken here and there you should not have to expect and put up with your flock being whipped out.
I am myself asking if anyone else has any ideas.

Fake Owls do not work for me. Even if you move them around.
Pepper does not seem like a logical idea. I add some to the feed to keep rodents away. It does not bother the chickens at all. I would not think it would work on a hawk. It did not stop him from killing my 4 chickens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

...a local chicken owner told me to get a fake chicken, cover it with real chicken feathers and then COVER it with finely ground cayenne and jalapeno pepper... He swears that the... pepper will ..."burn" the hawk and he won't come back... Anyone else have thoughts on it?

If I delay too long getting my hotter than hot pepper seed pods off the plants, the neighborhood birds help themselves to my VERY HOT pepper pods just like the hawks help themselves to your chickens. The "advise" you were given is a variation on the old "Snipe" hunt dodge and I suspect that whoever gave you this "advise" is still cackling like he just laid an egg. For it to work the pepper dust would need to get in the hawks eyes, and after the first dew or rain I doubt this would happen. I hope this at least keeps you from getting your eyes full of hot pepper.
As for "Local Chicken Owner" don't get mad, get even!

These vireos show how raptors make a living. Notice that taking a bird as large or even larger than they are is a hard days work for a hawk or falcon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMVyMU4t-hs
However, there is almost no limit to what a raptor will take on, humans included.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

- Crows are just a deterrent and an early warning system. They are not foolproof. Use them in conjunction with other methods to protect your chickens from raptors.

Good advice. Outside of protecting their nest and young, crows don't hate hawks as much as they see hawks as a competitor for the same food resources. It is not uncommon to see crows sitting quietly on the shoulder of the road while a hawk scavenges the remains of say a road kill raccoon or deer. The crows know that there is plenty of meat to go around and they are willing to wait their turn at the dinner table instead of tempting both fate as well as the hawk's talons.

 

[heybarb]

I thought I would go ahead and give a quick update. I did find a dog toy chicken, that I covered with glue, white feathers, and pepper and then laid it next to the edge of the soybean field. I buried the rest of her remains, but dumped a large number of white feathers in the soybean field. I did not have any takers on the fake chicken, but I did scare the daylights out of our farmer that leases the land. He came to harvest the beans a few days later and thought he'd killed one of our chickens that couldn't get out of the way of the combine fast enough. I had to assure him he was not at fault. :-\ We have not had any more losses to predators - but I doubt it's because of my cayene pepper chicken! It's more likely that I've been more vigilent, plus I've got 2 scarecrows and a fake owl that I move around the yard every 2 days and about 10 twirling CDs hanging from trees.

 

[janinepeters]

I am myself asking if anyone else has any ideas.

Fake Owls do not work for me.

Others say a large, protective rooster helps. I don't have one right now, so when a hawk attempts an attack, I decrease free ranging time and increase my own vigilance (and I am normally quite vigilant anyway) for awhile. Basically I do not let the chickens out unless someone is able to keep pretty close tabs on what's going on around the yard. After 2-3 weeks of unrewarded patrolling of my yard, the hawk gives up. I still see them around, but they stop stalking my flock. Then I can give the chickens more freedom again. Once a hawk (or any predator) is successful or nearly successful in taking a chicken, it will lurk persistently, unless it learns that it is wasting its time and energy.

 

[heybarb]

We also added a large rooster to our flock as well, since our main rooster died in the same attack as our White Leghorn hen.

 

[JusRicFarm]

Birds of Prey (BoP) have become a problem that the authorities and conservationist don't want to face. Yes, the BoP had issues and some still do, but now there is an over-population of most species because of TOO much protection. Pigeon breeders/fanciers, especially the ones that need to let out their birds to enjoy the hobby have been the butt of this for a long time. Also, because most breed of the North American Continent and enjoy this (long past needed) protection when they migrate southwards they can cause issues in other countries ... not much unlike the world economy ... what happens in the USA affects many others.

This is what happens when you allow misguided conservationist to go too far (I don't think I need to reference how the US Congress is operating right now to show how this can happen) ... there must be balance in everything (something MANY so-called conservationist cannot understand - nor 'see the wood for the trees') and this issue means to be re-dressed.

The BoP Protection Laws were put into existence long before the internet - maybe even in some areas Radio & TV were only then the emerging ways on information and/or propaganda - what others wanted you to hear.

If you do not engage your local and congressional reps. on these issues then nothing will happen, but when you do ask if they are funded by or lobby backed by certain questionable conservation organizations.

Think on these things.