Hawk Saucer

[GiddyMoon]

I am going to find a way to secure them to the top of the chain link so they sit every few feet. Maybe a cd sandwiched between two milk caps, using a heavy twist tie to wrap around the top of the chain link, thru the cap, thru the cd, thru the next cap and twisted....we will see what happens..

 

[ivan3]

Can also use short sections of .095" weed whacker line, long wooden skewers, ball point pen ink tubes, etc. as spindles through caps and the spindles can be twist-tied to fencing. Just has to have enough play to respond to wind.

Good luck!

 

[GiddyMoon]

Quote:

The boys will be building these!

 

[jenkassai]

Old thread, I know, but yesterday my chickens had a VERY close encounter with a hawk. I was working from home so I opened the chicken yard so the girls could roam the fenced back yard. Where I sit faces out the front window, and I thought I saw a large bird swoop over my house headed towards the back yard. By the time I got to the back door (just a handful of steps!), there was a HUGE hawk tangled in the poultry netting over the chicken yard. Luckily they were in their chicken yard at the time of the attempted attack and not in the big back yard! I guess I thought a hawk would see the netting and realize it couldn't fly through? It untangled itself and flew off, but was circling over the front yard either looking for the one girl who had ran towards the house and hunkered down in a hiding spot or looking for the squirrels that live in the big oak tree out front.

Anyways, obviously all that got me thinking about ways to make the chicken yard that much more hawk resistant. Clearly the poultry netting stopped it this time, but maybe next time my girls wouldn't be so lucky! Their yard is too big to put fence across the top. The poultry netting rests across some PVC supports hubby came up with, but that wouldn't be strong enough to hold fencing (I've asked numerous times lol!). I was wondering about the CD idea. Don't the CDs startle the chickens? Or they get used to them? My worry is if they get used to them, don't the hawks get used to them??

Thx!

 

[kareninthesun]

Quote:
I can only respond by example, but my chickens are comfortable with whatever seems natural to their own environment. When I first had them in their outside pen or penned up in their coop, I worried that mowing the lawn was going to cause them stress. Later, I ended up having to coop them up because they thought the lawn mower was a giant machine serving the best of fast food greens. I'm guessing they will get used to it. Now my black lab loves to chase lights, so this might keep her entertained.

 

[galanie]

Came across this while looking for ways to deter hawks. I had a different idea on hanging the CD's flat. Drill a small hole on either side of the middle. Bend a bit of bailing or coathanger wire in a big U and push through the holes. Then make loops in the ends of the wire, slip over your line, and crimp with pliers. No glue to come loose.

 

[kcfuerst]

Birds get used to EVERYTHING put out to deter them after a period of time. Including Hawks. I had some little twit of a bird who came and ate all my grapes last year. This year I covered the grapes with heavy duty bird netting. That little brat found a way inside and one by one, ate a LOT of grapes. Fortunately, there was enough to share this time.

I have heard that the only thing that really works for all birds, including hawks, is heavy duty monofilament fishing line strung up overhead. The light refracted through the line messes with the birds honing abilities and tends to repel them. Fisherman use this technique on their boats to keep sea gulls and other birds of prey from landing on their vessels.

The fishing line idea is honesty quite nice because it is nearly invisible to the human eye and as such doesn't look a horrid mess.

Just my 2¢.

 

[ivan3]

galanie wrote: Came across this while looking for ways to deter hawks. I had a different idea on hanging the CD's flat. Drill a small hole on either side of the middle. Bend a bit of bailing or coathanger wire in a big U and push through the holes. Then make loops in the ends of the wire, slip over your line, and crimp with pliers. No glue to come loose.

Excellent! The ones I posted up were an off-the-cuff project to keep the grand kids occupied. They worked better than expected. Up on roof looking down into run on sunny, breezy (`hawky') days in early Spring and the jittering reflections are random/irregular interference with one's focus (can't be much better for the hawks).

The only `build' requirement is that they move easily and quickly with the slightest wind.

Like the wire idea.