Hawk Has Been Eating Well

[Nemo25]

Hey everyone! First post but have been stalking for awhile. We have learned a lot about chicken ownership, care, introducing flocks, even curing my own chickens using vitamins. However we have come to a point where i need some more direct advice. We have gone from around 30 girls to 10 over the past 5ish months after having them a year. It started with foxes in August so we stopped freeranging and built our own run. This seemed to have worked but now we are dealing with a whole new threat... Red Tailed Hawks. I know there is a lot of advice out there but we are near desparate, illegal desparate but we dont want to go that route if we can hope to avoid it. We have a 5000 square foot run and putting a roof just isnt possible financially. There is a heavy tree area on one side and a clear area on the other. We put up fishing line on the clear area and it seemed to work for awhile. Then suddenly chickens ended up under the coop, which i didnt know hawks could do BTW, partially eaten. I discovered it figured out a way through the branches to get at our girls. (Its literally picking off our favorite and best layers too.. maybe it has a vendetta against us!) Anyways... we put up fishing line in the tree covered area hoping that would help. It sort of did. I went out to find a hawk just sitting right beside the coop while half the girls were inside and the other half were on the other side of the run, i think it missed the target and just decided to stay there.. I swear it was waiting for one of them to just get close. Anyways it didnt even care about the fishing line when I came near. It flew up, got tangled for a moment, and then perched right up a tree while i wrangled my girls into their coop to keep them safe. Now everyone is locked up but I feel so bad for keeping them locked up but i dont know what else to do. Any advice? I am close to giving up though i love our chickens but if its not one predator its another.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Wow, that's terrible. I have hawks here too, but not the large red tailed hawks. I honestly don't know what you can do, I'm sure that there are tricks, and someone else will let you know. It's so heartbreaking when this happens. I have hummingbirds and now a hawk is flying by and picking them off, one by one. (coopers hawk) So I understand your pain to a certain degree. When hawks are flying over my rooster, Harvey, makes a call and all the hens run to the runs. We have two. He's a great help in protection, do you have a rooster? Maybe that would help. Sorry, I'm no help at all.

 

[Nemo25]

Wow, that's terrible. I have hawks here too, but not the large red tailed hawks. I honestly don't know what you can do, I'm sure that there are tricks, and someone else will let you know. It's so heartbreaking when this happens. I have hummingbirds and now a hawk is flying by and picking them off, one by one. (coopers hawk) So I understand your pain to a certain degree. When hawks are flying over my rooster, Harvey, makes a call and all the hens run to the runs. We have two. He's a great help in protection, do you have a rooster? Maybe that would help. Sorry, I'm no help at all.

We do have 4 roos actually. Which we have to get rid of some now that there arent enough girls to go around. 1 is the oldest and does warn the girls but the hawks still grab them. The other 3 are younger and just started to crow so not much help sadly.

 

[Shadrach]

It is a difficult problem.
If you can't cover the top of your run then you need to provide safe havens in the run.
Most runs I see on BYC are completely bare. Large shrubs and bushes are best, but if you can't plant those then making 'tents' out of bamboo, or cane can work. Stake the bottoms of the cane in the ground and join and tie the tops together. Palisade type fencing in a circle with a roof on is another option. It's a matter of realising that the chickens need to hide. The thing is you need lots; one or two isn't enough. The run needs to be crowded with 'things' that the chickens can hide under. If you can make the 'things' with gaps wide enough for the chickens to run into but not wide enough for a hawk with open wings, that will help.
The natural defense for a chicken is not to be seen in the first place.

 

[Shadrach]

We do have 4 roos actually. Which we have to get rid of some now that there arent enough girls to go around. 1 is the oldest and does warn the girls but the hawks still grab them. The other 3 are younger and just started to crow so not much help sadly.

The roosters are not going to save your flock. They will give a warning call but most will seek cover with the hens. They don't want to die either.

 

[Shadrach]

One more point to give you some ideas.
Chickens are jungle creatures at heart, despite all the breeding programs so think jungle when you do your run. It needn't be a plant jungle although it helps. A man made jungle from old pallets, stacked concrete blocks etc, can do the job.

 

[Nemo25]

It is a difficult problem.
If you can't cover the top of your run then you need to provide safe havens in the run.
Most runs I see on BYC are completely bare. Large shrubs and bushes are best, but if you can't plant those then making 'tents' out of bamboo, or cane can work. Stake the bottoms of the cane in the ground and join and tie the tops together. Palisade type fencing in a circle with a roof on is another option. It's a matter of realising that the chickens need to hide. The thing is you need lots; one or two isn't enough. The run needs to be crowded with 'things' that the chickens can hide under. If you can make the 'things' with gaps wide enough for the chickens to run into but not wide enough for a hawk with open wings, that will help.
The natural defense for a chicken is not to be seen in the first place.

Thats why we included the trees in the one half of the run but i see your's and everyone elses point. I need more than just trees i need places for the chickens to go but not hawks... thanks everyone for that suggestion! That gives me something to consider. Any other ideas are welcomes as well lol

 

[Shadrach]

Oh yes.
Welcome to BYC Nemo25.

 

[llombardo]

Can you put some heavy duty netting up?

 

[Peppercorngal]

Maybe you can make more covered areas here and there. We have two runs that the chickens are safe in and they will run to the one they are nearest when necessary. Maybe just some safe top covered places to hide? Good luck, I hope you don't loose any more chickens!