Hawks getting chickens

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YES. A good way to prevent them is to cover your run even if only with deer fencing - raptors don't want to damage their wings, or they are out of business.
 
We covered all of our runs with a green nylon netting used to keep birds off of fruit trees. It has proven very durable and has kept the goshawks and great horned owls out entirely. Its a bit pricey, I think 50 bucks for a 30 x 30 square. I'll remove it before the snow flies and expect to get 3 or 4 years out of it, maybe more. It has shown no uv degradation even with our 24/7 summer sun.
 
yes, red tail hawks love back yard chickens (and smaller ducks) ---heard a commotion one day and hit the front door with mucks and the german shepard(didn't have time to grab the 30/06--out to the swamp area we went and saw the hawk grab the rir up into the air and she was fighting for her life--dog barking, me running to catch up to the dog--hawk dropped chicken and flew off.--found chicken bleeding from 3 gashes, scared and cowering under swamp hosta. plastered her with triple antibiotic ointment and put her in the coop.--she was out a few hours later next to the roo. she is doing fine. expect predators, do what you can, expect and prepare for the worst. good luck.
 
My daughter was outside with the girls and a small prey bird swooped down to try and get one! Today I didn't hear or see any birds so I let them out while I was working on the coop. It must have happened again. I heard and saw a flash and all the hens came screaming and yelling back to the coop. They would not stop squawking for several minutes. I guess they need to stay in the rum :(
 

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