Hawk vs. Rooster

[50-45-1]

Dry firing an air gun is harmful and can damage the gun.
I think it will have little to no effect.
Hawks are migrating in many areas right now and are more of a danger.
Confining your birds in a covered run is your best defence.
Hanging pie plates, old cd's, colorful foil streamers, put out some helium baloons with eyes drawn on them. There are lots of things to try, but i was rakeing the yard one day and mama hen and chick were 4 feet from me when a sharp shined hawk swooped by and snatched the chick and all i could do is stand stunned and listen to the chicks frantic crying grow stedily distant as he was carried away.
Maybe free ranging for a couple hours before dark while you are outside watching.
My guineas are my most valuable preditor spotters, sounding the alarm loudly before anything else sees danger.
good luck!

 

[RoosterML]

Hey everyone!

I recently put pullets out in my coop, so they're still pretty small, but my rooster has been hanging out with them and giving them the tour of the property. A few days ago while they were free ranging, a hawk swooped to snatch the smallest pullet, but my rooster got the little ones into the woods and took the brunt of the attack. Since the hawk was expecting a small pullet, he/she wasn't able to lift my 7 pound rooster. By the time I got outside (I saw all this from the window) the hawk had already gotten away. My rooster, Smokey was standing at the edge of the woods, scanning the skies. I checked him out, and he had feathers missing from one shoulder, and a small scratch on his wing. He was OK. I scoped the area, and found that they must've had a little scuffle. There were black and gray feathers from Smokey, and white and brown from the hawk. All my chickens are healthy thanks to my rooster, but I don't feel very safe letting them free range anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions to stop this from happening again?

What happened is what should have happened. You rooster did his job very well. He sure is a keeper.

 

[feather13]

We free range in an orchard where's there's plenty of cover and also lean old wooden doors on their sides against a concrete block wall to provide additional cover for our chickens from predators (which right now are large, feral cats ugh). I read somewhere that hawks only like to land where there's open space and so far this has worked for us. Can you set up some hiding spots for your birds? Also, what a cool rooster you have!

 

[DuckYouMan]

Had a recent similar experience with an owl. I heard a huge crash outside and I went out to find a giant owl sitting on top of the chain link fence rail causing it to bend! This thing had to be old. When it saw me, it just stood staring while I shined a light in its face so it wouldn't go for the roosters that refuse to coop up at night.

When he flew off it was all in slow motion. Thing was huge. It flew up to a power line which looked like it was about to snap from the weight. Damn thing made my 100lb dog look like a toy. I have 5 Liege fighter roosters (I call them the A-Team) and I doubt all of them together would of had a chance against this thing.

 

[Rooster Runner]

dang, that's a huge owl. . . what state do you live in lol!?

 

[Rooster Runner]

We free range in an orchard where's there's plenty of cover and also lean old wooden doors on their sides against a concrete block wall to provide additional cover for our chickens from predators (which right now are large, feral cats ugh). I read somewhere that hawks only like to land where there's open space and so far this has worked for us. Can you set up some hiding spots for your birds? Also, what a cool rooster you have!

Thank you! Yes, he's protected my flock from multiple predators, and he even beat up a fully grown male raccoon, still not sure how he did it! My property is surrounded by woods, which my roo used for protection, but I will set up a few more bushes, it happened on top of my sand mound, so it was a very open space.

 

[Rooster Runner]

LOL, made a little mistake there, expand that quote to see my reply.

 

[Rooster Runner]

Hmm. . . I like the look of that, I'll see if I can get my hands on one. And I do have that shiny tape all around the place.

 

[feather13]

Oh wow! Your rooster is a bada*s! None of ours stand a chance against the bear-sized raccoons that sometimes find their way into our yards if they are out free ranging or if I forget to lock them up at night.

It seems that hawks only like to hunt where there's open space, so planting bushes or setting up hiding spots might be a good solution. Good luck!

 

[Rooster Runner]

Thanks everyone for your help! I really appreciate it! I'll put out some more bushes, and see if I can get some of those fancy hawk repellent things, and I'll let you all know how it plays out!