Hawk Help Needed

[Ginger78]

We have a large yard in a suburban neighborhood. We’ve had chickens (5yrs) and never predator problems during the day. We have two dogs and they free range with the dogs during the day. 2 weeks ago I let them out at 6am like I always do and one was taken by a hawk. We’ve had 2 weeks to investigate and we are pretty sure. We now let them out later in the day and spend more time out back. Tonight we were out back and saw 6 hawks peering into our yard. We put our girls to bed but we also have smaller chickens that we let roam when we are out. We have 3 scare crows, 1 owl and a ton of shiny objects. Any advice? We want to go to back to normal and we are being very cautious yet the hawks seem to know about us. I’d love to get back to having my birds in the yard. The hawks perch on an electrical tower behind our property so we can’t do much about that.

 

[cmom]

I had a gal that bought birds several times from me. She kept coming back because predators would get the birds because she was free ranging and apparently not paying attention. After selling her some birds a number of times, the last time she came I told her I didn't have any for sale. I was tired of selling her birds just to let predators get them.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

A person here on BYC got one of those inflatable red waving men you sometimes see outside mattress stores to keep the hawks away.

 

[cmom]

I have only had issues with the netting when I ran short and put up some crappy netting. It wasn't what I thought it was and I should have returned it, but I put it up anyway and an owl went through it and killed a bird. I put up another piece of the crappy netting because that was all I had at the time and the owl went through it again and killed another bird. I thought the netting might deter any aerial predators. I put another piece of the crappy netting up and moved the birds to another coop and put a camera up and the owl came back and went through the netting again. I had ordered some good netting and replaced the crappy netting and the owl came back and tried to go through the replaced good netting again but this time got caught in the netting. We managed to get it out and into a cage. I called some wildlife people and they came and got it.

 

[KatAnn]

Once the hawk knows the food in there they will always come back till there is either no more or you put something in the way of them getting to them. We had to do bird netting due to how many Hawks live around us. Could you put bird netting up like from tree to tree so they can still free range?

 

[centrarchid]

https://www.naturepl.com/blog/2019/03/27/clip-of-the-week-red-fox-jumping-fence-and-taking-food/

Coyotes can jump to.

 

[cmom]

I have had that happen too. One time I was out in our blueberries and one of the birds followed me out. I was less than 10 feet away from her when a hawk came down and grabbed her. I went hysterical and the hawk dropped her but she was dead. Another time I had some chicks around a couple of months old in a temporary pen next to a pad my DH was working on, again he was right next to the little pen and a hawk swooped down and grabbed a chick. Lessons learned the hard way. Both times it happened very fast with no time to really react.

 

[centrarchid]

And as focus continues to be on a hawk, the fox keeps coming in and taking chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

We found her feathers in the middle of the lawn. We researched and figured it was the most likely scenario given where we live and the hight of our fences. And since then we have a lot of hawks peering into our yard.

If the chicken was more than 1/2 grown and represents a standard sized breed, then a hawk would have to eat it at point of kill, or at best drag it to a location where it has better seeing while eating. A fox, whether Red Fox or Gray Fox, will have little trouble getting over a 6' fence. Same goes for a Coyote.

How big was the chicken lost? An Bald Eagle could carry a 5 lb bird with considerable effort.

 

[Ginger78]

If the chicken was more than 1/2 grown and represents a standard sized breed, then a hawk would have to eat it at point of kill, or at best drag it to a location where it has better seeing while eating. A fox, whether Red Fox or Gray Fox, will have little trouble getting over a 6' fence. Same goes for a Coyote.

How big was the chicken lost? An Bald Eagle could carry a 5 lb bird with considerable effort.

She was an adult Americauna but smaller than the others. We are thinking their free range days might be over. It is sad but I can't lose another, it is heartbreaking.