Hawks, Netting, Miracles, and the Missing.

[CluckNDoodle]

I just saw the biggest danged bird I’ve ever seen in my life today... A juvenile bald eagle swooped down over the flock. Fortunately s/he missed! Scared the crap out of everyone, including ME! Then s/he had the audacity to perch in a tree fifteen feet from the run and glare at us!

Wow! I think hawks, eagles, and falcons are gorgeous but the increase of viewings I've had this year have very nearly given both myself and my chicken's heart attacks. My newest visitor was a Swallow-Tailed Kite, a bird of prey but such a small one that I thought for sure they wouldn't be interested in my chickens...I do have those small ones free-ranging with the rest of my flock this year though and good grief Kites are BOLD, that beautiful creature knew I couldn't reach it and was perfectly fine making repeat passes to stress me out. lol!

 

[AquaDuck]

I have a predatory bird problem too. Sigh! They're gorgeous birds, but I wish they'd stay away from my animals. They killed my favorite pet duck, and still I wouldn't dream of hurting them.

I put up bird netting over the duck pond, and a pattern of colorful strings over most of the lawn. It's a big area though, so I can't possible cover it all. During free-range season, I check on them at least every hours, walking on the lawn, waving my arms and yelling if I see a bird overhead. Lucky I don't have any neighbors. Haha!

The bird netting I got is plastic and I hate it, it rips easily and is a nightmare to handle, so I'm gonna try to find a fabric one instead.
I know someone who tried mirrors and dangling cd's, and they did nothing.

 

[PTA Chicks]

Amazon seems to be the best resource for finding the larger rolls of netting. Good luck! I hope you're able to get your eagle situation under control!

Amazon is not an option in my part of the world

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I have a predatory bird problem too. Sigh! They're gorgeous birds, but I wish they'd stay away from my animals. They killed my favorite pet duck, and still I wouldn't dream of hurting them.

I put up bird netting over the duck pond, and a pattern of colorful strings over most of the lawn. It's a big area though, so I can't possible cover it all. During free-range season, I check on them at least every hours, walking on the lawn, waving my arms and yelling if I see a bird overhead. Lucky I don't have any neighbors. Haha!

The bird netting I got is plastic and I hate it, it rips easily and is a nightmare to handle, so I'm gonna try to find a fabric one instead.
I know someone who tried mirrors and dangling cd's, and they did nothing.

I do the same thing now, I wave my hands all willy nilly and sometimes yell at them...I do have neighbors though, they probably think I'm crazy. They could be right. Lol
Do you recall which type of plastic netting it is? The kind I'm getting is plastic too but I'm hoping it's a bit heavier...

Amazon is not an option in my part of the world

I didn't realize you were in South Africa. Though I'm not sure it would have occurred to me that Amazon didn't deliver there anyway because sometimes it seems like they're everywhere! Lol

 

[A.M. Eggs]

A long time ago I had received three bay chicks from a friend of mine. They were growing and were happy and enjoying life. Two were EEs and one was a Welsummer.

It was time for their first day in their new coop and run. They were running around free and relaxed. I left for school.

When I arrived back home, I found a terrible scene. There was a red-tail hawk flying out of where the three chicks were. I ran as fast as I could, but it was already too late. One of the EEs was already dead, the other was just barely holding on. Frantically I searched for the welsummer. After a long search, I found the welsummer untouched. She had escaped through a hole in the fence that I wasn't aware about. It saved her life. Her EE sisters both passed.

We later named the welsummer Joy. She got three new EE sisters after one month of being alone. She was one of the most affectionate hens I had ever owned. She was considered "the miracle hen" until her death by an opossum.

Few weeks later I lost my whole flock to coyotes. I then decided to build a super strong coop and run with aviary netting draped over for maximum protection. Haven't had a hawk problem since. I highly recommend the netting.

Squirrels are annoying though. They fit through the holes in the net.

 

[PTA Chicks]

I didn't realize you were in South Africa. Though I'm not sure it would have occurred to me that Amazon didn't deliver there anyway because sometimes it seems like they're everywhere! Lol

They do deliver here,some things Not much,however shipping is prohibitively expensive and 99% of the time there will be additional fees/bribes/customs to pay as well or they will lose the item,perhaps both

 

[CluckNDoodle]

A long time ago I had received three bay chicks from a friend of mine. They were growing and were happy and enjoying life. Two were EEs and one was a Welsummer.

It was time for their first day in their new coop and run. They were running around free and relaxed. I left for school.

When I arrived back home, I found a terrible scene. There was a red-tail hawk flying out of where the three chicks were. I ran as fast as I could, but it was already too late. One of the EEs was already dead, the other was just barely holding on. Frantically I searched for the welsummer. After a long search, I found the welsummer untouched. She had escaped through a hole in the fence that I wasn't aware about. It saved her life. Her EE sisters both passed.

We later named the welsummer Joy. She got three new EE sisters after one month of being alone. She was one of the most affectionate hens I had ever owned. She was considered "the miracle hen" until her death by an opossum.

Few weeks later I lost my whole flock to coyotes. I then decided to build a super strong coop and run with aviary netting draped over for maximum protection. Haven't had a hawk problem since. I highly recommend the netting.

Squirrels are annoying though. They fit through the holes in the net.

I'm so sorry about your terrible experience! I'm glad Joy made it though! We decided to name our little Blue Marans "Lucky" and it's funny that you mention squirrels because I found this little bugger in the run yesterday just enjoying the free buffet of chicken crumble. lol, I'm sure it will be back because it was young and wasn't afraid of me at all... And here I wanted to move farther into the country...I'm already in the wild! lol

 

[artsy.owl]

Here's our solution. So far, no issues other than it looks like the Redneck Riviera! LOL! We had a labyrinth

of twine like a maypole and then draped bird netting over the top. The entire thing is actually covered, but the netting on this side is black while the other side is green. The black disappears, evidently.

 

[noregerts]

We use deer netting. We did the same thing as you, extended the run, it's pretty big now probably about 30 ft by 80 ft. The deer netting is stretchy and we attached it all around with strong zip ties. When it snows lightly it goes right through it and when we had a heavy snow this winter it weighed it down but did not break it because of the stretchiness. leaves and small limbs just land on top of it and either blow off or we go underneath and pick them off. overall we've had it up for around a year now with only minor issues. And no hawk attacks. We still see hawks almost every day so they're out there they just haven't been able to figure out how to go through that netting. Good luck, I'm so glad you found your babies. I hate Hawks.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Here's our solution. So far, no issues other than it looks like the Redneck Riviera! LOL! We had a labyrinthView attachment 1765456 of twine like a maypole and then draped bird netting over the top. The entire thing is actually covered, but the netting on this side is black while the other side is green. The black disappears, evidently.

Thank you for sharing pictures! It helps me to envision how we're going to string it up one we're done installing the fence!

We use deer netting. We did the same thing as you, extended the run, it's pretty big now probably about 30 ft by 80 ft. The deer netting is stretchy and we attached it all around with strong zip ties. When it snows lightly it goes right through it and when we had a heavy snow this winter it weighed it down but did not break it because of the stretchiness. leaves and small limbs just land on top of it and either blow off or we go underneath and pick them off. overall we've had it up for around a year now with only minor issues. And no hawk attacks. We still see hawks almost every day so they're out there they just haven't been able to figure out how to go through that netting. Good luck, I'm so glad you found your babies. I hate Hawks.

Thanks! Since we're still getting the chain link fence portion down I'm making a list of all of the recommended nets and I'm going to compare once we're ready for it. We don't get much snow here but I will have the netting under trees where it will likely end up collecting sticks and leaves. Time will tell!