Hawks! How can I keep the hawks away from my chickens?

[centrarchid]

I just thought between 6 roosters there may be some protection. The only rooster who didn't seem afraid was the clubbed foot silkie rooster named peaches. My huge EE could've easily taken him but he is young. You guys and gals think my boys will get better at this when they are older?

Mature rooster always better than immature although not all breeds are equal owing to mental or physical limitations. The fluffy breeds like silkies and smaller breeds will be physically limited. I have American Games which are probably the best and even they benefit from having cover to operate from. As your roosters mature, watch for changes in behavior relative to hens and pitch of voice as that will indicate when rooster will be effective. Also, roosters effectiveness against hawks is a function of molt where my birds are off hawk fighting duty until molt complete.

 

[Leo1]

I was thinking of trying criss crossing rope over my yard and hanging some holographic tape from it as well. Was thinking of having the rope cross every foot or so, so it would be essentially like a fence with about 1' openings. This would be for supervised time only. Do you guys think that would be a deterrent at all? Would a smaller weave be necessary or would this be of no help? I had a hawk the other day try to dive bomb my girls while they were all eating out of my hand.

 

[ldutch123]

The hawks don't care. They are hungry and will do anything. I see them daily now. What I did was the tall fenced area outside of their coops I used deer netting and covered it. Now this is a very huge area but I felt it was necessary. And this has worked. But when they go outside of this area to forage and stuff they have to find their own specter under the bushes and stuff and so far so good. I even have bantams running the whole area and everyone is accounted for every night. I have a few older hens and lots of young roosters that start making noise when one flys over and everyone runs. I covered the area by the coop because the coopers hawks would go right up under their coop to chase and kill the chicken ( he only got one). So I placed their feed in this safe zone and that's where I give them their treats, the hawk could still fly in through the gate but that seems like a small chance.

The hawk was trapped under my small chicken coop and couldn't get out. I was so mad he killed one of my tiny bantams but I did start to feel sorry for the hawk( because I'm a sucker) and I opened an area for him to escape without the dead chicken. I never would've killed it because they are protected but I was so mad.

 

[erinchicknlover]

I think if u show like if u have them in a topless pen if u have ur scent on it and ur chickens it will leave them alone because they r scared of ur and were saying this is our territory...my hen got attacted yesterday by a hawk or eagle and I screamed to make sure it new I was a bigger pretitor be creative to keep them away...try things

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

We haven't had any hawk attacks since we put some goats in the chicken pasture. Could be coincidence, I'm not sure.

 

[deegirl]

A hawk got my Hen Audrey today. Full size big hen. I heard something and there he was killing her. I screamed and chased him off with snow/ice balls. Supper scared he will be back for my other girls. This hawk lives in my neigborhood. I scream and throw snow at him whenever I see him. Any ideas?

 

[redneck farmer]

A hawk got my Hen Audrey today. Full size big hen. I heard something and there he was killing her. I screamed and chased him off with snow/ice balls. Supper scared he will be back for my other girls. This hawk lives in my neigborhood. I scream and throw snow at him whenever I see him. Any ideas?

I'm from Florida so I ain't really know bout them snow hawks but down here we put up poles with fishing lines over the areas where r chickens Rome an when a hawk comes an flys smack into te line they tend to not do that again

 

[GoChick]

Has anybody tried these "screamers" to scare hawks away?

http://margosupplies.com/public/american1/scare/pyro_launchers/pyro.htm

 

[LaceySilkieLove]

Lost 3 chickens to hawks with this advice.  I even made sure to move him around all the time so the hawks wouldn't be suspicious...I guess my hawk knows that owls come out at dusk and so he decided to catch him sleeping and kill in the afternoon.  I wouldn't trust this at all as a sound hawk deterent.

It cant hurt to have one. They are usually helpful but I wouldn't use that as your only defense.

 

[LaceySilkieLove]

I think if u show like if u have them in a topless pen if u have ur scent on it and ur chickens it will leave them alone because they r scared of ur and were saying this is our territory...my hen got attacted yesterday by a hawk or eagle and I screamed to make sure it new I was a bigger pretitor [COLOR=008000]be creative to keep them away...[/COLOR][COLOR=FFFF00]try things[/COLOR]

I had been holding my hen minutes before she got snatched. I think hawks plsn their dive bomb attack from far up in the air and take there prize with them if theit able to fly away w ith them. I dont believe sent has much to do with it. But your right about trying stuff! You never know what could help deter hawks till you try. I've tried several suggestions from this conversation and I currently am using about 5 deterrents at the same time and I have not lost another chicken yet. Knock on wood!
I think its important to use more than one strategy for keeping hawks away from your chickens while they are freerang and not rely on any one thing