Hawks Can Get Into The Smallest Spaces!

[sacrifice]

I was home for lunch yesterday and heard my chickens making a huge amount of noise. I ran downstairs to the pen, and there was a very large hawk attempting to snack on my chickens. As soon as I entered the pen, it flew out of the same small hole it entered the pen from. It seems that the snow had shifted the netting and wire that I had protecting the chickens, and a small space was present between the wire and the top of the pen.

Anyway, one chicken is now comb-less, one chicken is missing some feathers, and one chicken has a small bite on the comb. All chickens are fine though, and managed to lay eggs yesterday, but were not that excited about coming out of their coops the rest of the day. This morning, the chickens are back to their regular selfs and the wounds are already healing.

The pen is now secure and I will be watching for any possible entry point for hawks, eagles, owls, and other birds.

 

[RedIII]

Scary! It seems like a lot of people have been having problems with the raptors.

The predators that bother me the most around here are the coons. Those things are so clever and they get into all the places you don't want them to be. I'm not always sure how they do it.

 

[P-Funk]

Wow. I really did not need to hear that. If they can get into a coop, surely they can get into a converted stall in the barn. Sigh. Looks like it's back to the farm supply store.

 

[roxyblue]

Ouch....I'm glad to hear that your hens are all alright though. Just out of curiosity how big was the hole? a hawk got into our coop a few days ago and beat up one of my chickens....though she seems to be doing fine. I covered the WHOLE intire run with mesh and stapled it down a lot. I have been checking for gaps and found a couple very small ones but still......

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Yeah Roxy I need to know what size the hole was. Can't take any chances.

 

[sacrifice]

Quote:
It was actually something like 8 inch long tear that was about an inch wide - you really could not see it unless you were looking. I guess that is enough for a hawk to fit through. When it flew out, it knew exactly where to go. Wish I had eyes like that

 

[roxyblue]

wow, it really is amazing how well they see. My big run looks like it is a prison now. I went out to look it over again yesturday, my family is saying is asking if I expect a herd of blood thirst raccoons to come our way.....hey you never know.......

I have the run covered with mesh and twine wrapped all through it to make sure the hawk doesn't try to dive and instead gets all tangled up in the mesh. I don't what anybody to die, I just wish that the hawks would know that my chickens are NOT food.

 

[sacrifice]

Quote:
Until I can get to the remainder of the issues with possible entry points to my pen, I have a couple of temporary fixes that I have done. One is a big rock that is balancing on a post that is right above the door latches. If I shake the door too much, it will fall on my head - Security is fun!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Wow, that is small. Hmmm thanks.for the heads up. Maybe I'd better.go over my hen houses again.