Hawks & Raccoons - what are the best deterrent???? This last week has been brutal, lost 6 chickens. 4 to hawks, 2 raccoons.....

[Sodan]

Hawks & Raccoons - what are the best deterrent???? This last week has been brutal, lost 6 chickens. 4 to hawks, 2 raccoons.....

My girls free range

 

[16 and me]

Hawks & Raccoons - what are the best deterrent???? This last week has been brutal, lost 6 chickens. 4 to hawks, 2 raccoons.....

My girls free range

Yikes! So sorry to hear that. I find that if you pen them up for a few weeks, the predators usually move on.

Best deterrents I've found for aerial predators has been lots of hedges & trees, but I once had a bald eagle sitting low in a cedar tree trying to wait out the hen that had taken shelter underneath it. As for racoons and other prey mammals, my dog and my presence is the best deterrant.

 

[StinkyAcres]

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[McChooky]

Hawks & Raccoons - what are the best deterrent???? This last week has been brutal, lost 6 chickens. 4 to hawks, 2 raccoons.....

My girls free range

I recommend you force the hawks and coons to hunt somewhere else by locking your chickens up. Otherwise they'll keep eating them.I free range my chickens too but they have a safety net if anything attacks them.This is only a suggestion.You may prefer to set traps for the coons but hawks are federally protected.You can't do anything to them

 

[RubelliteRose]

It can take a while for hawks to lose interest. My flock has currently been locked up for just over a month due to a hawk stalking them(hawks are usually rare in our yard). In the past, it only took a week or so for a hawk to lose interest and move elsewhere, but this one is still hanging around watching them. Trees and shrubs can provide protection, but this particular hawk will land on the ground and walk under shrubs looking for hidden prey. Unfortunately, it successfully caught a marsh rabbit near our run using this method, so my flock will be staying in the run protected by hawk netting for now.

 

[McChooky]

As long as they aren't eating your chickens your winning. We use 1/2" 16 gauge galvanized steel hardware cloth on the coops and runs both so they're safe during lockdown.I had a bunch of leghorns that would have rather been eaten than locked up so I rehomed them.