hawk got one of my girls

[redhen]

ahh!..i'm sorry to hear this!...

....i hate hawks also!...

.....still trying to devise a plan to get rid of mine here...

...

 

[lalaland]

I don't know if this is of any help, but I've read long long ago on BYC that stringing fishing line over the tops of your chicken yards will deter hawks. I've always imagined it as not creating a netting, but creating some lines in their vision that will deter them.

I also thought, apparently quite mistakenly, that my larger breed girls were safe because of their size, so I'm planning on trying the fishing line thing.

These past weeks I've had a shrike ( a blue jay sized predator) feeding off the birds at the bird feeders, and she clearly takes birds up to her size! So a hawk, well, a red tail is probably the same as my astrolorp.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Some people do the fishing line thing, and then hang CDs (I would assume cheap CD-Rs) from the line. This won't protect the girls from predators that can climb up and over the run, though.

 

[lalaland]

near as I can tell, short of keeping hens in a concrete bunker, nothing is predator proof! I do have a few huge pines in the chicken run which provide cover, as does their coop, which is an old construction office trailer painted barn red, leaving them lots of space underneath for shelter and dustbathing. I have a 5 foot fence with an electric fence wire, and 4 feet of wire fencing laid on the ground flat surrounding the fence, which is wired to the upright fence. Added the last part (wirefencing laid on the ground) after a power outage left the electric fence useless, and a dog dug under the fence and slaughtered the flock.

I'm sure I will still lose some chickens to other predators - I'm worried about weasels and minks that can slip through the wire fence and miss the electric fence, which is currently useless as it is buried in snow.

 

[Dorothy1324]

Maine Chick where in maine are you we live in Jefferson and have a resident hawk that keeps returning my husband would love to get him back but no opportunities yet came out this morning and he was there but flew off when i came out without any fatalitys today. But he had killed at least 2 ducks 1 guinea hen and a chicken. i think i will try the owl thing

 

[1chicklady1]

I know it will be back, just wishing it wasn't true. my girls LOVE to get out of the coop and enjoy being chicks...now what? will plastic owls really work? any advice as to what works besides my dog and I being outside babysitting? I have a large yard = so I'm wondering if 1 string with CD's stategicly placed would work??

 

[maine chicks]

Hi Dorothy-I'm in Harpswell on the islands-I will try the wire in the spring, meanwhile I've got some deer netting that I'll hang over the run area. My birds can get under the coop and the is a patch of blackberries and a bunch of rose bushes that they can get some cover/protection in. I had eagle problems in the summer-I have three guineas that worry me more than the chickens. The chickens love to wander in the woods so they are under cover. I do lock everyone up in the run when I'm not home or the dogs are not on guard duty. The run will have to become a little tighter if the hawks are going to see free dinners.

 

[dani813]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I too, am having problems with a Red-Shoulder Hawk trying to get my girls. I wish he would just be happy with the Mourning Doves.