Your best bet is a covering, the next is a dog. If you’ll use a decoy then be sure to move it nearly daily. Hawks are super smart.
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Exactly what my husband said with free ranging. A hawk will swoop down for prey even with humans near by. Guess I will not let them free range any longer. I can’t stand the thoughts of losing any. Their run is large and protected with plenty of room to move around.There’s really nothing that can completely stop a hawk from getting chickens while free ranging. That’s why I chose not to free range. At my old place a red tailed hawk swooped to try and get a chicken with me and my bigger dog right next to them. I decided to just build my chickens a large predator proof run to keep them in as they are pets to me and I don’t want to lose any. Free ranging comes with risk and it’s just a matter of when something will happen. Many people free range and accept the loss, others only free range supervised and even then things happen.
I am a huge advocate for free ranging. I’d rather live a short free life than one confined. I don’t know your situation, but I would urge you to think about it. Maybe they can free range an hour before sunset? With supervision? Maybe there’s a balance?Exactly what my husband said with free ranging. A hawk will swoop down for prey even with humans near by. Guess I will not let them free range any longer. I can’t stand the thoughts of losing any. Their run is large and protected with plenty of room to move around.
I did enjoy seeing them forage for worms, bugs, etc….and they loved it, too.
I'm going to play hard ball because it needs to be done. The RESIDENT hawk can kill a chicken once in a while, but if it learns a given location has too much risk, then it will go after easier prey even if in the same area. Its not just about saving one chicken and most of the killing the chicken by a single blow is bunk. Sometimes, yes but very far from the rule.There really isn't much you can do about hawks if the chickens free range.
What the chickens need is cover and time, maybe a couple of generations or more to learn how to evade the hawks. They do learn, but the learning can be hard on them and the keeper.
Large bushes, bamboo clumps, some fruit bushes and hedgerows if dense enough make good cover
centrachid has trained his dogs and that is a long term undertaking.
Roosters, they'll warn, but not usually fight until after the hawk has struck if at all. If that was a full on strike from a Goshawk for example then the target chicken, if not dead from the impact, is likely to have internal injuries that will kill them eventually.
If you are looking at the long term and plan to let the hens that go broody sit and hatch then the local knowledge gets taught to the next generation.
So the decision to free range should be considered with respect to the suitability of the environment the chickens range range in more than any other factor and then to your commitment to keeping chickens.
My understanding is that these are not too effective.We had our first encounter with a hawk while our chickens were free ranging, today. Luckily, I stepped outside just in time or we would be missing one or more of our girls. I must say it was quite unnerving.
Has anyone tried using an owl decoy placed on top of the run? Or any other tips?
Until then, they will no longer free range unless I’m outside with them.
Jail bound with a fineI scare hawks off. I have a netted run and free range if i'm out in the yard with them. I catch them eyeballing form a tree every now and then. They don't come back most of the time. If i scare the off the third time thats SSS.