Hawk problem.....anyone know how long they will hang around?

[the simple life]

Sorry to hear that. The hawks migrate through here every fall and stir up trouble, they are usually gone by the beginning of November or so.
I had one sitting on the top of the coop looking down into the run a couple of weeks ago.
I let my chickens free range but during hawk season I send the dogs out in the yard and I give the girls alot of places to duck for cover, I turned over a canoe and planted about 15-20 new shrubs out there and then they like to hangout under the outdoor furniture anyway.
I have a couple of roosters and they do let out that warning call when the hawks come around and they hustle the hens into the coop but there was a thread here the other day where a member had such a bad hawk problem that they were even getting ahold of her roosters.
She said she would come home and find the hawk tearing apart the chickens in the driveway, which surprised me because I thought they always took off with them.

I second the crows, they are nasty little things if you have baby chicks around, they will be as bad as the hawks in that regard but hawks are afraid of crows, its their natural enemy.
The crows will go after them and its amazing to watch.
They will fly up and start circling the hawks and drive them off, I have seen two crows drive off three hawks that were circling overhead together, they took turns diving at them and breaking up the group and then drove them off one by one.
Crows are pretty cool. I was actually admiring a few today.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

Not all hawks need room to 'swoop' to get a chicken. My girls have a 30'x30' run that has netting over the top. Early last week, a high wind broke off a pine tree branch that fell on the netting and caused a split between the sections. I had not seen any hawks in the neighboorhood and thought I would repair the split on the weekend. Unfortunately, a Cooper's hawk saw the two foot split in the netting and came into the girl's run and killed a one year old black sex link. We have a baby monitor in the coop and my wife heard a ruckus and ran out to check on the birds. The girls were all huddled in a corner and she did not see the hawk or the dead bird at first...the hawk was so well camouflaged, it blended into the color of the wood fencing and spread it's wings over the body of the dead chicken and she didn't see it. It wasn't until later that she saw the hawk and scared it out of the run through the opening it used to enter.
Bottom line: a hungry predator will seek out any weakness you have in your defenses. It pays to check your coop and run for any openings that can be exploited by a racoon, possum, or hawk. I wish I hadn't been negligent in repairing the netting, Calpurnia would still be with us.

 

[asolano76]

So my DH got a pretty close look at the very brazen bird hunting the chickens and we think it may be a Peregrino Falcon.....does anyone know anything about these except for they are on the Endangered Species list?

 

[asolano76]

Just looked it up....sorry its Peregrine....whats the difference and how do I know if its a Peregrine or Coopers Falcon or Some kind of Hawk...pretty sure at this point its not a red-tail....

 

[Tuppemor]

A hawk got two of my hens, so I penned them up. After a few weeks of nothing, and silent crows, I let them out. The next day I hear the crows making a ruckus and penned them back up, it's obviously back.

I agree that crows are helpful, they give warning long before the hawk comes out of the woods. Now if only the chickens could learn to listen to them..

 

[newchickengirl]

Quote:
I had My 5 pound Kelso Game rooster eaten By a hawk almost 3 weeks ago so that does not work. The hawk was as big as him if not bigger. My rooster was teatherd and that probably did not help much but it was not by choice.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Yes, they do work, when the sun hits them they reflect and chase them away
The sun needs to be out in order for them to work
Also, the owl with themoving head works
I had two hawks that flew over my run and never came back yesterday

 

[the simple life]

She was referring to the post that she quoted in her message, it was about the rooster not the cds.

 

[tadkerson]

Anybody know of a program where the federal government pays you for the chickens the hawks kill. If there is not a program there should be.

If the federal government will not pay a person for the chickens, there should be legislation that should pay us for our chickens. If the feds can hand out millions of dollars to study an endangered species, then they should pay me for the birds eaten by hawks. I consider my birds an endangered species when a hawk kills them.

The aggressive bird was for coopers hawks not red tails or other large buteos.

Tim

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
YEAH! We need more government handouts.