Hawk swoops down over me repeatedly going after my girls.

[the1much]

no it aint a good idea,, a good idea would be either deal with your pred. in a manly fashion,, not torture a bird cause ya can. or have your birds in a covered run.
im on the side of, " i shoot whatever pred. is after my flock,,, but im definitely not on the side of " lets torture a bird cause we cant aim a gun"

 

[allen wranch]

No one likes to lose their flock to predators, but remember that except for a few, most kill for food.

Please do not turn this thread into a discussion on how to kill/torture predators inhumanely.

If you cannot dispose of a predator in a humane way, find someone else who can.

 

[KB]

Is there a chicken weight limit that will deter hawks?

 

[allen wranch]

If a hawk cannot carry off its prey, it will kill the animal on the ground, eat what it can on the ground, then carry off what it can.

 

[estpr13]

A couple of weeks ago a small Hawk hit one of my 6 pound hens and took out a bunch of feathers but the hen was a little too big for it and got away.

I heard the squawk and went out to investigate and as I walked out the hen ran into the house and the hawk flew away. It only had a three foot wingspan.

I had another with a 4 foot wingspand who attacked my hens with me sitting within 6 feet of the chickens. Stupidly I went after the hawk with my bare hands and had I caught it, it would have surely torn me up. But I was protecting my emotional investment.

Prior to that time, I had lost about 7 other small young chicks from a chicken tractor. I finally found out that a hawk was catching the chicks and pulling them under the chicken tractor which I had put on wheels to make it easer to move around. The wheels came off after that.

Hawks are persistant like chickens when it comes to getting to food.

I like the idea of bottle rockets. The University of Kentucky uses a pen like device to fire a screaching rocket in order to scare off flocks of nesting starlings.

I have also seen advertised the flashing led device which is supposed to scare off preditors but I don't know how well it would be. Anyone tried it?