Hawks :(

[tatertot]

Oh..I'm so sorry for you all's losses...it always seems to be the favvored ones.

 

[tatertot]

Lol...its illegal in some places to exterminate vermin like possums and raccoons.
Birds of prey are valuable in help keeping "mice and rats...as are snakes.
Don't get me wrong...I detest anything that would take my ladies for a meal.
I do know that just about everything out there has them on the menu..
Has anyone tried the chicken saddles with the big predator eyes?
Only thing
I can add is that I'm sorry to hear about Mabel...it always seems to be the favorite in the bunch

 

[bumpercarr]

I appreciate everyone's personal stories of pet loss and hawk deterrent methods. I am still so sad after losing our favorite (by a long shot) hen a few days ago to a red-tailed hawk. I have read this entire thread (took me three days!) and others and have done a lot of research since then. Our hen was black and almost our biggest hen; an Australorp. She was the wisest one, the matriarch, who usually alerted others to hawks, so I was ignorant thinking she wouldn't be the one to be killed. Our rooster (her son) will be a year old at the end of April. He is extremely vigilant. Unfortunately, when I ran to the commotion, he was hiding in the corner with everyone else, except Mabel. I am sooo sad still. I wish I could have saved her, and I wish Ernest had fought the hawk off.

Last year, we lost a smaller hen to a falcon. That's when we got into roosters, who I have since learned are very valuable. Still, it's hard to find a rooster who will be aggressive towards hawks but not towards you! Anyhow, I just wanted to add my story to the others. We live in western Oregon and it really seems that this winter there is a huge concentration of avian predators. In four days, we had "the" red-tailed hawk, then a falcon of some sort, then a bald eagle, then a peregine falcon! We had been having a lot of close calls, but they have A LOT of cover, and once I even found a hen hiding in a rhody bush and the rooster circling it with a hawk in the branches just above, so it seemed like the girls were in good hands and Ernest was earning his keep and on a steep learning curve. Well, clearly I was asking for too much and the hawk won one. (But of all 13 birds, why did it have to be HER?!)

So, I think I will try putting out some of those whirly gigs, and raising a pair of guinea fowl. Possibly a turkey but I am concerned that a turkey tom may harm my girlies. I am also thinking of raising a german shepherd, but have to get dh on board first. Also, with 11 girls now and more under a broody, I'm thinking of adding another rooster. We'll see. I sympathize with everyone who struggles with the fine line of giving your birds a quality of life free ranging and keeping them safe. Very sad!! Thanks everyone for the stories, they do help. (And I'm jealous of everyone that has crows, because for some reason we do not!)

It probably took your favorite because she was the lead hen. A lot of times, they will also try to protect the rest of the flock. So sorry for your loss.

 

[joan1708]

Sorry I didn't read the whole thread. But I've seen a hawk flying around eyeing my silkies. It seems to be around mostly in the morning. Do hawks hunt more in the morning? Anyway, I stopped letting my girls out on my days off. Now I only let them out in the afternoon if I'm outside working. It has taken the hawks close to 2 years to notice my hens. Do snakes scare hawks? Maybe I'll get a fake snake.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I think that a snake may give them another reason to come around since that is more food for them.

 

[cheeseball]

So Sorry for your loss it's so hard,my cricket survived her attack my chickens free ranged safely for a year and now all of a sudden we have hawks everywhere,no more free ranging for me,even when I let mine out and stood watch over them a hawk was flying over, I screamed and he left ,I got my chickens back in the pen and don't let them out anymore, They don't like it but they are alive.Im just going to try and build a larger pen come spring,I lost one of my fav. To a dog attack,it is painful.

 

[CharlieD]

Scare tactics of any kind do not deter hawks. Not even humans will deter hawks. I have had too many, very, very close calls with hawks, even to the point of one coming in contact with me on the way to get to my young chicks I was watching over.

The only real way to protect your chickens from predators is to cage them up and if you choose to let them range out, do it for short periods of time and at different times of the day. It would be beneficial if you were there with them, not as a hawk deterrent, but as in emergency response if something did happen.

Also train your chickens to cage up on command. You can do this with feed and a certain call. If you notice something not right, birds in your yard suddenly go quiet or leave in a hurray, your chickens flocking under something or they may be getting low to the ground looking up, that is your clue to get the chickens put up. Once a hawk finds a renewable resource of easy prey, there is no stopping them. They will come back day after day. You have to be the one that breaks that pattern....

There is no way a rooster is going ever provide protection against a hawk. Alerting is the only defense and 90% of the time it is too late. Once a hawk is in attacking mode, it is over in less than a few seconds.

The hard truth is, prevention of hawk attacks are highly dependent on us. If we allow our chickens to free range, without supervision, without learning about the predators they face and how to combat them, we should expect loses.

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, believe me, I have lost hundreds of my birds to hawks, some of which were very special to me. It is what drove me to finally learned how to deal with hawks. Awareness is the answer...

I did a write up about learning the signs of hawk danger using other birds and animals in your yard. Outside of locking up our chickens, it is really the only way to prevent hawk attacks and it is not 100% full proof. It takes a long time to develop this skill and it will fail, and it can be devastating when it does. Nature is nature and this is how nature is.

Hawks migrate and breed at certain times of the year. Believe me, breeding times are demanding on these hawks and that is when we lost most of our birds to hawks. Watch and learn the habits of the hawks in your area and take measures to keep them off balance. Believe me, they choose our birds because it is easy for them and the harder we make it, the less we will have to deal with them.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hawks migrate and breed at [this] ....times of the year. Believe me, breeding times are demanding on these hawks and that is when we lost most of our birds to hawks. Watch and learn the habits of the hawks in your area and take measures to keep them off balance. Believe me, they choose our birds because it is easy for them and the harder we make it, the less we will have to deal with them.

CharlieD has a good point. Hawk courtship involves ritual feeding behavior. Think of it like a courting human couple going out for dinner and a movie. The she hawk uses this time to judge the chick rearing potential of the male. This is especially true with reed tail hawks. Even though he may be only half the size of his lady friend, male hawks do most of the hunting while his mate concentrates on incubation and brooding. NOW is the prime time for hawk mating and coupling, and with the extreme cold weather hawks have been pushed further South than usual. Keep your eyes peeled.

 

[cheeseball]

Well the hawks never got a meal here,but they are still here ,I have two that live in pines a few feet away,I think they are way to many of them and it shouldn't be against the law to shoot them, I'm thinking of taking up a new hobby learning to shoot a gun. If I didn't cage my chickens I wouldn't have any left.

 

[mamahen1980]

Within the last week I have lost 4 roosters to a pair of hawks. They are in the trees and thorns eating them so early in the mornings. I'm guessing the boys are too big to carry off. I haven't had any predator problems since I starting keeping chickens9 months ago,but now its happening so quick. Ive had to keep them on lock down. I miss seeing them in the yard and really wish these hawks would move on soon.