Hawks

[BigNan]

I’m a new chicken owner and we have a mobile coop we move around so that we can rotate the chickens. But we’d like to expand the cage more so the chickens would have more space. We currently have a top on because we had problems with hawks when the chickens were younger. But we’d like to make a big space with no top but I’m still afraid the hawks will go for them even though they’re pretty much full sized chicken. Would Hawks still try to go for full sized chickens? We have Buff Orpingtons if that matters.

 

[azygous]

Yes, hawks go for full size chickens. They will try for a direct hit on the neck, breaking the neck, then they feast on the contents of the head. They can be quite bold, attacking even when a human is standing right beside a chicken.

 

[centrarchid]

Some hawks will go after larger standard sized chickens. It is far from a guarantee they do so. If they do go after your birds, they will likely take only one at a time giving you time to make so losses are stopped by adding a cover. I have as many hawks as anyone. Hawks are not the biggest problem for larger chickens. Foxes and Raccoons are more typical issue for larger chickens. Owls may an issue at night.

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

Yes hawks will kill mature full size chickens. We have a run covered in chicken wire and after several years the wire had some holes and had come loose from the coop. I mistakenly thought it would still deter hawks. Came home one afternoon to find a red tailed hawk eating my 3 year old Buff Orpington hen. Before getting new chickens this year we shored up our coop and replaced the wire over the run.