Hawks

[duckmama1970]

Hello,
I have 3 Pekins and they are going to be 5 weeks old tomorrow. I have some questions about hawks. I get very nervous letting them outside even when I’m there with my ducks. Will a hawk attack my ducks when I’m sitting out here with them? Will the hawk attack when they are in their pool? How do I best prevent a hawk attack? I tried googling all of these questions and it wasn’t very helpful. Will hawks just attack any age? Is there a certain age I no longer need to worry as much?

 

[Lor]

We had a hawk attack a full grown Khaki Campbell just a few feet from where my husband was standing. There's a chance one will attack with you out there. Other than overhead protection (enclosed area) I'm not sure how else to protect from hawks.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Will a hawk attack my ducks when I’m sitting out here with them? Will the hawk attack when they are in their pool? How do I best prevent a hawk attack?

I agree with the first poster, hawks are bold and know that you are slow. There is no "safe" age.

They're somewhat of a seasonal issue for me with some years being worse than others.. some times of year my birds go on lock down until the hawks move on. It gets expensive to feed them. (the hawks that is)

I don't like my birds pinned up, so one year I figured out (by watching crows harass them) that they will move on if I blow their cover well enough. As ambush predators, they cannot hunt if their cover is blown.

I'm not sure about ducks, but chickens have a very short attention span.. so even if they saw the hawk fly in and alerted they quickly forget he's there int he tree and return to business as usual.

They (hawks) are also creatures of habit like the rest of us.. show up at the same time and leave at the same time everyday. So I would go out hooting and hollering (rooster alerting and putting my flock on notice of danger) waving my arms in the air acting crazy and even kyawing like a crow towards said hawk. After a few days with no open buffet, they get annoyed and move on!

Anecdotally.. I lost 2 Silkie chicks to a hawk 2 days in a row in my Silkie pen one year. After putting up MANY strands of fishing line to cover the entire pen (with about 1 foot openings) I had no more losses.. I did remove the chicks from their mum and put all chicks in fully covered pens.. but find it hard to believe it wouldn't just keep coming back for the grown Silkies. There were some theories about the shiny reflection and the thinness of the strands.

If I had a very high load of hawks, then a fully enclosed run would be a good long term solution and recommendation as well the best way to prevent an aerial attack. You sound very worried.

Hope this helps some and that you're enjoying BYC!

 

[duckmama1970]

We had a hawk attack a full grown Khaki Campbell just a few feet from where my husband was standing. There's a chance one will attack with you out there. Other than overhead protection (enclosed area) I'm not sure how else to protect from hawks.

Thank you, I’m really sorry that happened. It all makes me really nervous. If I can something to prevent it I will. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a lot of huge tree cover in the half acre fenced where my birds live and forage I was naive in thinking that would prevent a hawk since the dense trees cover not so I had a huge red tail kill a bantam hen and one got one rooster so there are no guarantees. I don’t have a covered run so I pray over my flock everyday, I cannot close my birds up it’s cost prohibited for one but they would not be happy. So far since 2004 I’ve only lost 2 birds inside their property to a predator. I’ve lost a few more who thought it was a good idea to jump fence and brood in the woods.

 

[Lor]

Thank you, I’m really sorry that happened. It all makes me really nervous. If I can something to prevent it I will. Thank you for the suggestion!

The duck was fine since my husband was able to step in immediately. We lost one duck to a possum. I didn't even know it was possible at the time.

 

[duckmama1970]

The duck was fine since my husband was able to step in immediately. We lost one duck to a possum. I didn't even know it was possible at the time.

Awe, I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad that duck was okay though.

 

[duckmama1970]

I agree with the first poster, hawks are bold and know that you are slow. There is no "safe" age.

They're somewhat of a seasonal issue for me with some years being worse than others.. some times of year my birds go on lock down until the hawks move on. It gets expensive to feed them. (the hawks that is)

I don't like my birds pinned up, so one year I figured out (by watching crows harass them) that they will move on if I blow their cover well enough. As ambush predators, they cannot hunt if their cover is blown.

I'm not sure about ducks, but chickens have a very short attention span.. so even if they saw the hawk fly in and alerted they quickly forget he's there int he tree and return to business as usual.

They (hawks) are also creatures of habit like the rest of us.. show up at the same time and leave at the same time everyday. So I would go out hooting and hollering (rooster alerting and putting my flock on notice of danger) waving my arms in the air acting crazy and even kyawing like a crow towards said hawk. After a few days with no open buffet, they get annoyed and move on!

Anecdotally.. I lost 2 Silkie chicks to a hawk 2 days in a row in my Silkie pen one year. After putting up MANY strands of fishing line to cover the entire pen (with about 1 foot openings) I had no more losses.. I did remove the chicks from their mum and put all chicks in fully covered pens.. but find it hard to believe it wouldn't just keep coming back for the grown Silkies. There were some theories about the shiny reflection and the thinness of the strands.

If I had a very high load of hawks, then a fully enclosed run would be a good long term solution and recommendation as well the best way to prevent an aerial attack. You sound very worried.

Hope this helps some and that you're enjoying BYC!

Thank you so so much this is so helpful!!! I am very worried. I don’t have children so my animals are my children so if I can do anything at all to prevent them from being injured I will do so. Again I really appreciate the response. BYC has been so helpful to me and I’m very glad I can turn to it when I need help given I’m brand new at being a duck and chicken mom haha!

 

[duckmama1970]

I have a lot of huge tree cover in the half acre fenced where my birds live and forage I was naive in thinking that would prevent a hawk since the dense trees cover not so I had a huge red tail kill a bantam hen and one got one rooster so there are no guarantees. I don’t have a covered run so I pray over my flock everyday, I cannot close my birds up it’s cost prohibited for one but they would not be happy. So far since 2004 I’ve only lost 2 birds inside their property to a predator. I’ve lost a few more who thought it was a good idea to jump fence and brood in the woods.

Yes, the area in our backyard that we’re putting all our birds is tree covered but we have a lot of hawks around here so I’m going to probably cover their area but it will be big enough so we can fit inside it so I believe they will have plenty of room. Thank you for sharing that! I really appreciate it! Best of luck to you! I’m glad that your prayers are being answered everyday. That is awesome!