Hawk deterent

[Tsuga]

Recently I had a large hawk, couldn't tell what kind, took out three of my chickens in three days. I looked through the posts here about how to deal the problem but none of the solutions seemed to fit my situation due to the size of the area where they free range. I did see some comments about decoys but I could not find anyone who had tried them.

Well I went out and bought one owl and one crow decoy and put them up. Immediately it worked and the hawk has not come around since.

So for anyone with hawk problems this has been a solution that's 100 percent successful, at least for me.

Darryl

 

[tazcat70]

Great information!!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[rainbowgardens]

Will the owl decoy scare away any other preditors? Say, raccoons, by any chance??

Do you move the decoy around the area so the hawks don't get wise?

 

[CMV]

That will work initially, but unless you move the decoy around regularly the hawks will gradually lose their fear of it.

 

[Tsuga]

No, I havent moved it since I put them both up and its been about a three weeks. No hawk has been around since. Hard to know all the factors but so far so good.

Raccoons are not an issue for me because they only go after my chickens at night. As long as I shut them in once it gets dark there's never a problem.

 

[BarkerChickens]

We have an owl decoy, which works mildly. The ravens work best in our area for hawks. I have never seen a crow/raven decoy. I need to find me one of those! Thanks!!!

 

[Tsuga]

I got my crow decoy at Dicks Sporting Goods.

We had a snow storm yesterday and my son noticed our plastic crow is sitting there with snow on his back. Think this will tip off the hawk that he's a fake?

 

[wilds of pa]

another trick to add to your scare tactics..Take some string an tie it around some old cd-roms add a swivel to the part that fasten to a tree limb, it will spin and flash around all day long when the suns out. every now then move it to a new location on your property, will help deter some birds of pray..

plus if one can feed crows they will keep most birds of pray on the move when they are in the crows range..during mating season the crows always nest in the general area here and they will not allow birds of pray to hang in that area for to long.. whole corn feeders work great to keep crows around.

 

[NateinFL]

Quote:
FYI This did not work for me. I thought this was a great idea, however last week a juvenile sharp-shinned hawk took one of my teenage chicks right from underneath a row of bushes I had decorated with the CDs. I had walked out the back door and it made him fly away, carrying the dead little one

.Its been hanging around for a week now so nobody gets free-range time until he moves on.

 

[DLS]

old quail hunters trick:
build small sanctuarys & put around for the hens to run under . I have some made out of short pieces of 4x4's (found them at a fence co) with a 2'x2' piece of tin on top The legs are 1' tall . I wrapped some old barb wire around the legs to stop yotes & the like but chickens hop right through. I have seen a BIG ole red tail hawk swoop down & the hens scatter. they hide under the roof.
I guess they are chicken.