Hawks?

[Everett500]

Im making a chicken pen/run thats about 600 square feet, and with chicken fencing being expensive enough, is the a cheaper way to shield the top from preadtors over head. I already have a small budget im working with, i would lock up the hens in the coop for the night so coons and possums shouldnt be to big of a concern during the day just the local red tail hawks would cause worry. To get down to the point do i really have to put mesh fencing all over the top?

 

[wayne hulgan]

we have 1500 sqft. and we do not have it covered. no hawk problems yet. we do have several structures that the chicks can hide under and provide shade also. we planted some plants, that will later provide cover. give them plenty of cover and keep your eye out for hawks eyeballing your flock.

 

[centrarchid]

Some important details missing. A sterile / structureless run can provide a hawk with a canned hunt which seems to be frequent reality with many keeping semi-confined chickens.
How many birds? Breed? Age(s)? Hens only?


Deer netting is a low cost measure to keep most raptors out of a 20' x 30' (600 ft^2) run. If appearance does not offend, then consider wooden pallets that can provide be arranged to provide refuge. You want to deny hawk access to chickens from above.

If you can force hawk to make final approach on ground then a full size rosster or two would also make going after hens a potential risk to hawk.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Do not assume that because you haven't seen a hawk yet that you're safe. I think we had our girls almost two years before the local hawks discovered them. And once they do, they think they've arrived at a KFC drive-through.

Hawks are currently the bane of my chickens' existence. I don't let the young'uns out unless I am on patrol.

You need to provide at least some hawk-safe space for your chickens if there are any hawks in your neighborhood.

 

[Mattemma]

You could do bird netting loose.It stopped a hawk.Most times it will just slow them down especially if it is tight.

 

[kareninthesun]

Yeah, you do need something over the top. There's no place for the chicks to run to for protection and it would be easy pickings for the hawks. When I first built my coop, the bottom floor, the walls are all 1" hardwire cloth, and the first day I put the chicks in, within half an hour a hawk brazenly landed right on the ground next to it as soon as I went in the house. They are great opportunists. Even now, they don't free range unless either a human or the dogs are out there.

 

[Everett500]

I was planning on having 5 RIR hens and 1 RIR rooster, i didnt plan on leaving them in the pen alone till they became a decent size, the coop would be accessible from the pen and and the coop is going to be a pole building so it would provide some overhead protection, the wood pallets sounds like a good idea.

 

[Kschwartz]

I use a tarp. I have only 2 ducks and did not want to spend a load of money buying mesh for a such small pen. I do have hawks in my area and so far we have had no encounters. I also hang up CD's as some "added protection" ..

 

[dainerra]

simple and easy solution? string. a loose zig-zag back and forth, close enough that the wingspan won't fit through (I think 1 - 2 feet?)

 

[ruffedgrouse]

Quote:
Thats a good idea.