Hawk

[blue fire]

Is there any way I can protect my chickens from a hawk without having to pen the poor things up or killing the hawk? And if not can people post their pen ideas and pics.

 

[Yonaton]

You can't kill birds of prey, it's illegal as heck. The best thing to do is have a larger breed of chickens or put some kind of netting over the top of a run of some kind. You can also plant different types of bushes and shrubs around the yard that the chickens can run under.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

Hate to say it but if you don't completely cover the top of your run...no matter how big...you will always run the risk of losing birds to raptors.....

Right now I've strung a big ugly gridwork of mason's line that will hopefully work......However, if I lost anymore I will be forced to spend the $$ to completely cover my run with netting...

 

[Chirpy]

It sounds like you totally free range your chickens - that makes it pretty hard to protect your chickens. Having a good watch dog around could help; however, many dogs will end up attacking the chickens.

Keeping your chickens around larger animals like horses, cattle, etc. may also help to stop the hawks from attacking. Hawks aren't likely to go for a small animal with larger ones nearby. However, nothing is fool-proof with predators.

If you do have a fenced area for your chickens someone here suggested using fishing line strung back and forth over the top with shiny objects attached every few feet. The hawks would likely see that as a "ceiling" and might not try to get to the chickens underneath it. Although, once again, I've heard that hawks have gone right through chicken wire so the fishing line might work, might not. It is a much cheaper idea to try if money is an issue.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

I had another hawk swoop down on my chickens yesterday and again unsuccessful. My dogs were standing near by I didn't see it happen I was in the workshop and when I came out the chickens were scattered and hiding, my dogs were just standing there and I saw the hawk departing and circle around and disappear in the trees.

 

[Miltonchix]

I have pretty much taken care of my hawk problem simply by shooting NEAR them with shotgun. I use #7 shot so if a BB did by chance hit it wouldn't do any damage. Only took a couple shots and they seem to steer clear now. Even the buzzards seem to steer clear now.

 

[Hotwings]

Make sure they have plenty of cover to run under like bushes and such. A rooster will usually alert the flock to overhead danger. I hear guineas make good watchers, but I have heard alot of negative things about them, ie they are very noisy and sometimes aggressive to chickens. They generally retain alot of their wild heritage traits. If you don't want a rooster of guineas you will have to go with an enclosed run with netting or such on top.