Hawk Sighting! Any suggestions for adding cover to existing run with big trees inside?

[linguini]

We use these aviary netting all over the chicken and garden yard - some resident redshoulder hawks nesting on a big oak tree nearby.

These nets are easy to install, and cheap. We use T-post and tied a 2x2x8 (with 1x6 plywood board nailed to the end of the wood on top) to the t-post in various spots to hold up the netting. We can easily walk under the netting. You can also use 1" netting, but they are more expensive and harder for our hands to reach out to harvest squashes/tomatoes/runner beans that grew over the net.

https://a.co/d/hnvQFUp

 

[Rick&Chris]

I have somewhat unconventional shapes to my pens and a big tree nearly in the middle of them. The pens are the 6' dog kennels. There were old pipes laying around from something and they were put across the kennels, bigger ones stuck inside smaller ones, until it reached from one kennel panel to another. Then 5' -2" hole chicken wire was strung across and attached on the kennel panels on each side and each row to one another. There is no way to keep the raccoons out because of the tree. But it does keep out aerial predators. If you get wire, be sure the holes are large enough to allow for removing leaves and twigs.

Can you upload a photo? And happy Thanksgiving!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

View attachment 3984652View attachment 3984653We moved into a new place end of last year with existing chicken coops and run. This spring we got our first baby chicks and have been very lucky with no predator losses - but close call with a hawk today.

The run boundaries are fenced and an electric wire is run along the outside to deter predators from climbing in. There is a bit of a hardware cloth apron along the bottom but we have plans to upgrade that to be more secure.

So far all the trees in the run have been full of leaves since we first put the girls outside full time and provided adequate protection. Now that the leaves are thinning, we started having issues with aerial predators.

Adding pictures, but our run is quite spacious and has a lot of trees. We’re struggling to figure out how we will better protect them. Before today we thought maybe some paracord and old CDs would be enough deterrence.

Without breaking the bank how would you approach this? We are in NJ, so not a ton of snow but enough that we need something that won’t collapse if we do get snow or freezing rain. The area is big enough that a hardware cloth or chicken wire cover would need to have some upright beams to support them, plus the difficulty of working around 2 coops and all the trees.

Might set up some tarps or something for a quick fix before we build something more permanent.

Spoiler: TLDR: Hawk Attack, 1 chicken being treated for shock

On Wednesday morning when I checked before work, all the girls were spooked and hiding in the coops but no one injured or missing. We thought maybe a hawk but caught nothing on the cameras and everyone was acting normal.

This morning we caught an attack on camera - hawk perched on the side of the run went after one of our Orpingtons. She has no visible injuries or pain from what we can tell but is very lethargic. She’s currently inside where it’s quiet and warm & being treated for shock (vitamins /electrolytes in her water, scrambled egg once she was lucid enough to eat. She laid an egg in the cage we set her up in). She was lethargic for quite a few hours so I’m feeling better that she seems to be more lucid. But only time will tell how well she recovers.

You have been warned! Such a wonderful chicken yard you have there! I have hawks and after my buff got attacked, I never leave the chickens freeranging without me. Hens here almost 4 years and those flying predators are on to us. Its just not worth it. as you are learning! Much love to you and your flock. Thats good your girl laid an egg. Shes milkin' all that TLC you are offering inside

 

[RoyalChick]

Realize I am a bit late to the party but in case still useful:
- short term add some ‘junk’. Picnic tables, chairs, pallets up on blocks. Looks ugly but gives lots of places to hide
- longer term plant some shade loving, lower level shrubs. When you first plant you will need to protect the roots from the chickens but once established they should be OK.

 

[jreardon1918]

Masons string. You can string from tree to tree high enough you don't hang your head on it when you go in the run. String it back and forth no real pattern. It won't stop a hawk completely from getting in but it will stop a drive bomb and give the girls a chance to run for safety.
I've seen hawks pull up at the last second and crash into the neighbors bushes and I've also seen a hawk standing in the chicken yard confused on what to do next since the sneak attack didn't work and the girls where just looking at it.

I used mason string a few years ago to prevent hawks. I used black mason string. I did not "catch" any hawks. But I did "catch" an owl.
I felt terrible. I cut all the string and it flew up to the oak tree overhead. I have considered nets, but worry about a similar result. The uncovered part of the run in currently not used.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I used mason string a few years ago to prevent hawks. I used black mason string. I did not "catch" any hawks. But I did "catch" an owl.
I felt terrible. I cut all the string and it flew up to the oak tree overhead. I have considered nets, but worry about a similar result. The uncovered part of the run in currently not used.

Yikes!! Ok Buddy, we gotcha!

 

[Rick&Chris]

I used mason string a few years ago to prevent hawks. I used black mason string. I did not "catch" any hawks. But I did "catch" an owl.
I felt terrible. I cut all the string and it flew up to the oak tree overhead. I have considered nets, but worry about a similar result. The uncovered part of the run in currently not used.

How did you put up the mason's string, in a zig-zag pattern, block pattern, random? I'm looking to do something, too. Hawks are too stressful!! They literally sit ON our coop when the girls are out.

 

[perkolator]

How did you put up the mason's string, in a zig-zag pattern, block pattern, random? I'm looking to do something, too. Hawks are too stressful!! They literally sit ON our coop when the girls are out.

If I was using mason line to make an overhead protection "net" over a run, I'd likely use a basic "Dream Catcher" weave pattern. Very simple to do and aesthetically doesn't look bad; I used to make all my bean trellises this way in a rectangular frame every year.

 

[jreardon1918]

How did you put up the mason's string, in a zig-zag pattern, block pattern, random? I'm looking to do something, too. Hawks are too stressful!! They literally sit ON our coop when the girls are out.

The run is roughly 20' x 40'.

How did you put up the mason's string, in a zig-zag pattern, block pattern, random? I'm looking to do something, too. Hawks are too stressful!! They literally sit ON our coop when the girls are out.

Here is a picture. With string drawn in. It was quite hard to see the string. I had a couple poles in the middle to make it like a peaked roof.

 

[AGeese]

I had a couple patio unbrellas about, though down one after I left it open during high winds.