Hawk!

Hi Sophia, your hawk probably did swoop down after your birds, but when it failed it alighted on your chair. I don't think it would be bad to lock your birds up when you're not around; 10 sq. feet per bird is good and nothing to feel guilty about for locking them up. Anything they can get under is good for cover. I'm not so sure about the flashy things to deter hawks and I really don't know how it would work on a large scale. I would also try to remember what your hawk looked like and look it up and see if you can identify it. Maybe it's a kind not known for taking chickens. You always have to consider the possibility that the hawk was after something else (squirrel, lizard, dove etc.) and your chickens freaked out (as they should). Try to find out as much as you can about that hawk but keep vigilant at the same time. Good luck. --Todd.

 

Hi Sofia, I just posted a story a little while ago. They love to swoop....but we had one sitting up in a
ficus tree. He then swooped down on our little dog Chi and missed. Luckily my husband and lab
were there. Our routine was the same every morning. We checked and found droppings, he'd been
checking it out for a while. They don't call them birds of prey for nothing..,.their smart!

 

Check my pic on https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4534390

That hawk comes every day.

 

While it is true that hawks swoop and kill...they also will glide, grab and carry a small chicken off. A full grown chicken would get hit in the neck upper shoulder area and then pinned down with with talons while it finished the kill and/or ate it right there on the ground.

Hawks will go inside after a meal, rare behavior but they have been seen to go inside structures, in pop doors and inside dog houses. They hop and the hop well.

You are going to have to keep them in a covered run until the hawk moves on...it was sizing your birds up after a missed attack most likely. It will also look and watch for patterns and ways inside. Sounds like a juvenile hawk...most would watch from a covered area like a tree, juveniles still must figure that out after failed attempts.

 

I have a small hawk here that has a preference for killing my birds THROUGH the fence! Last year he killed 3 silkies, so far this year he's only gotten 1 bantam chick (about 6 weeks old, but naturally he got a pullet instead of a cockerel!) and that one was through 1/2" welded wire!

 

I have a fenced in back yard and a hawk keeps getting my full grown ducks. Does anyone have a remedy to keep the hawk away? I have hung aluminum plates on poles on my fence, but this doesn't seem to help. I had a black Indian Runner Duck last year and I found it in the yard with the back of its head eaten off and saw the hawk in the tree. Later I had a smaller mallard duck and she totally disappeared with no signs. My husband (who has had a stroke and loves watching the ducks) was given 5 more ducks. They are now about 5 months old and yesterday one of them was gone with no signs. Have a chain linked fence so nothing got in through the fence. Need some help before the rest of my ducks disappear.