Hawks!

[Bettacreek]

What is the best way to deal with hawks? I don't have any live birds yet, and I'm not sure if I'll have a problem with the hawks or not, but I want to prevent any issue. I want to free-range, partly because our yard is pretty small, and with two boys, I want the birds to take advantage of all of the fields behind the house. I'd rather not have a yard full of slick chicken ****. Anyways, we don't have any predators around here except for the hawks. What's the best way to deal with hawks and poultry? I have pekin duck eggs in the bator and I'm hoping to get silkies and possibly turkeys. Help please!

 

[centrarchid]

What is the best way to deal with hawks? I don't have any live birds yet, and I'm not sure if I'll have a problem with the hawks or not, but I want to prevent any issue. I want to free-range, partly because our yard is pretty small, and with two boys, I want the birds to take advantage of all of the fields behind the house. I'd rather not have a yard full of slick chicken ****. Anyways, we don't have any predators around here except for the hawks. What's the best way to deal with hawks and poultry? I have pekin duck eggs in the bator and I'm hoping to get silkies and possibly turkeys. Help please!

If you have hawks you have other predators although they may not have been aparent to you yet. With respect to hawks, getting size on birds helps. Having cover for birds to go to helps as well but ducks will not use same cover as chickens. Adult roosters can help some. Dog or covered run best.

 

[Bettacreek]

Our area is a little different. We live on prison property, so we have fields galore where the hawks love to roam, but no woods or anything for other predators to really sustain themselves. We do have a lot of groundhogs though. Mice will be a problem with the feed, I'm sure.

 

[centrarchid]

Do you have feral or domestic cats? Answer gives an indication as to how tight the prisons perimeter fencing is to small ground predators like the fox. If you have ground hogs, that in itself indicates an interesting possibility for foxes to gain entry. Otherwise you truely do have a unique challenge.

 

[Bettacreek]

The prison itself has feral cats around, but they never make it this far. I'm sure they could start showing up, but they tend to stick at the culinary bay (prisoners feed them, even though they're not supposed to, lol). The groundhogs, there is so much land, that there's no way they'd have been able to remove all of them before fencing anything in... We're actually not supposed to shoot them, but I'm going to see if we can, since they're digging under the house and such. I admit to trying to run them the heck over when I catch them in the yard (watch tower guys probably think I'm a nutjob ripping through the yard in my baja, chasing after groundhogs when I come home).

 

[RiddleMe]

I free range my mixed flock on ~1 1/2 acres daily, all day long and have for the past year now. We have a variety of hawks and falcons, as well as a few golden eagles, in my area and at one time or another I've seen each circling high or skimming low over my free range area. As of yet, I haven't lost a single bird. Not that it couldn't happen... However, I didn't start letting them free range unsupervised until they were about 5 months old, they are all larger breeds, the area is highly populated with sage brush and juniper trees which provides plenty of cover, and I have a very alert rooster. I don't know with silkies though, even full grown, they may never be "too big" for a hawk to take. WRT cats, there are also a few of them around whom I have seen stalking my chickens. Nothing funnier than seeing a cat running for it's life with a flock of chickens hot on it's tail. But these are neighbors cats, not feral, so probably weren't that serious to begin with.

 

[centrarchid]

I am willing to bet you will find foxes are present. Answer to that you will have to determine.


Hawks come in several flavors and not all will go after poultry, especially adult poultry. Some will go preferentially after chicks.

Have you taken time to determine which hawk species occur in your area?

My checklist of concern based on where I think you are located would be as follows:
Red-tailed hawk
Coopers Hawk
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
Great Horned Owl (not a hawk but similar management headache)

Others species almost certainly present but like the eagle examples, seldom go after chickens.

see link below

http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/hawks.html

 

[Bettacreek]

We've got mostly the red-tailed hawks. I haven't seen anything else around the prison area as far as predatory birds. As for foxes... I just don't think they'll be a problem. I do worry about the hawks, and we might have issues with owls at night, though the birds will be secured at night, so I'm not too worried about them. Another thing is, if anything WERE to show up (though highly unlikely), I'd shoot for "self-preservation", because if something is coming out during the day, near the house with my two little boys, I'm shooting it. Period.

 

[centrarchid]

Red-tails for me are the most difficult species to manage for. They are generally targeting small rodents and if they do not have coyotes and foxes as competition, they are going to have a bumper crop of voles keeping local hawk numbers high. Best not to consider shooting them, especially near prison.

Even red-tails can be thwarted. Provide chickens with ample cover they can get to quickly. If you are in open area, that has pros and cons. Pro is chickens can see incoming hawk from all directions. Con is you may not have a lot of cover. You may need to look into making or growing some cover. In my setting during much of year a rooster (I have American games) can defeat a red-tailed hawk if hawk is forced to approach chickens on foot. The on foot approach is promoted by cover. If no rooster, hawk can still walk in and catch directly or flush hens into open. My roosters are not effective as juveniles or while moulting tail and body feathers which is basically September through November. Do not use bantams or silkies for this.

Another option which may prove extremely effective in you area is a dog. If perimeter fencing encompasses you and foxes are not present, then likely the biggest predators you must deal with are the hawks. For me, even a medium size dog will get job done. Dog will not or need not kill a hawk to keep it from taking your birds. Can you manage a dog?

 

[Bettacreek]

Hawks are everywhere here. In a mile driving past the prison, you can easily see eight of them along the road. We could get a dog, but I don't want one to be honest. I'd rather try to manage the flock without one... At least until the RIGHT dog comes along. Not into just adopting a dog for the heck of it, it has to be the right one, lol. Around the house, cover is easy... We've got bushes, trees, etc. But out in the fields, there's nothing. I can always try to keep them closer to home though. I wonder if they'd even sprawl through the fields or if they'd be weary because of predators.