Hawk has made his nest over our coop.

[alwaystj9]

I just meant their presence kept the hawks away because they were so big. I've had chickens since 1996 and not ever had a hawk fly down.

You are fortunate, I lose a few every year and it's gotten worse and worse because everyone around here who buys a 1-5 acre plot clear cuts it as soon as they get it. With no cover, the small animal population has been decimated. About the only hawk prey left seems to be my chickens. I have been here for 30 years and it's not a farm town anymore.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I recall hearing something about great horned owls will attack a hawk. I can’t remember where I heard this and I’m not sure if it would help to have a fake owl set up but I know hawks are smart so moving it around the yard may work.

 

[linguini]

We have ducks and chickens that have a shared coop in our horses’ pasture. We had been letting the chickens and ducks free range from breakfast until dinner in the pasture. Two weeks ago we had a duck attacked by a hawk. It was awful and my kids were devastated. So we’ve been keeping them in their coop, but they really want to get out. This week we found the hawk has made a nest right above the coop. Smart hawk... but what do we do? The coop isn’t portable. Hawks cannot be shot or bothered.
Any suggestions? Our chickens and ducks are more like pets... they help clean up the pasture and sometimes lay eggs, so we appreciate them, but we have named them and love them and really don’t want to lose another to the hawk. Thank you for your help.

We covered the forage area with bird net and deer fence (using metal t-posts) - its relatively easy. The hawk still comes but can only sit on the tree and watch. I think the additional fencing also keep away other predators from getting too close. We lock them up in their 8x8 run which is open to their coop where they sleep at night.

 

[Jrios58]

This may sound crazy, but we had a hawk hanging around one summer that i was afraid would kill my new kitten, so i got a kite and flew it. and tied the string to an iron bench. It is always windy at our place so i didn't have to go out there often to put the kite back up in the air. Only took a day or two (a weekend basically) and the hawk left. This also works really well for preventing barn swallows from nesting. We had 9 pair trying to nest in our front porch one year!!

 

[parvani]

Blank compact disks are pretty cheap if you buy them in bulk.

I know someone who is raising hundreds of chickens in a heavily forested rural area. She hangs compact disks from tree branches and roof eaves. The constant glitter from all of them is so unnerving to hawks that they won't go near her chickens.

Of course she also has netting over her chicken pens. But determined hawks could get through that if they weren't too freaked out by the glitter to investigate.

 

[hennanny]

whats wrong with just shootn it? .. here in MO you are allowed to protect your livestock but yea a nice big "bird net" will help

 

[Chickassan]

Scarecrows help but you've got to make them portable, like secure the base in a weighted 5 gallon bucket instead of the ground so you can pick it up and move it.
Dress it in the brightest god awful clothing you can find and give it "hair" so it has some movement in the wind.

 

[Matejka]

Can you lop off the branch and remove the nest?

 

[hennanny]

just looked at Lyons Texas on the map..I think your options are whatever you want them to be